


Merc of the Wastes

by nukarachacha



Series: Children of the Vault [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Depression, Drug Withdrawal, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Minor Character Death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 22:07:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10976301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nukarachacha/pseuds/nukarachacha
Summary: Just as a happily ever after was in reach, everything had to go to shit. Alarms were ringing and escape was the only option.





	1. No Exit in Sight

Lex groaned. Her eyes opened slowly, sleep still gluing them shut. It was already late in the day, the area beside her on the bed empty of Butch. Another sharp pain, similar to the one that woke her up, shot through her stomach. A sudden fear grew, pushing herself up from her lying position.

 

Blood.

 

There was a puddle of blood staining the sheets of their bed.

 

“A.. ah..” 

 

Pain spread from her stomach to her chest, her arms feeling like electricity shocked her paralyzed. She carefully placed her hand on the small bump of her stomach, slowly getting up from the bed. Another strong pain hit her, this time in the middle of her stomach, followed by a  gush from in between her legs. She gasped, watching as more blood spilled onto the floor.

 

She stood as quickly as she could, stumbling and almost slipping on the blood on the floor. Her vision began to blur at the sudden vertigo. The only thing she could think of outside of her growing fear was to find her dad at the clinic

 

He could help her.

 

Her feet trembled as she made it towards her door, a trickling trail of blood drops left below her.

 

When the door finally opened with the help of her fumbling hand, she felt herself slip and begin to fall. 

 

The expected metal floor never came, instead the pain spiked momentarily when large familiar hands grabbed onto her around her waist. What sounded like a yipe escaped her, any form of self preservation Lex once had disappearing. She felt like she was going to die.

 

“Lexie! Hey, what’s wrong?” Butch asked, worry evident in his voice. Lex struggled to answer, but was unable to utter a sound with how difficult it was to breath. 

 

Finally Butch noticed the blood, and the pool of blood currently growing around their feet. Panic set in, his instincts causing him to grip tighter around his girl. She cried out, tears streaming down her face. 

 

Her broken voice startled him out of the fear induced daze he was in, his hands now holding her gentler. She was struggling to remain on her feet, the pool of blood not helping either of them much. Without a second thought, she was lifted carefully into strong arms, the thundering heartbeat against her ear making her blink in and out of consciousness.  

 

How did it end up like this?

 

_ Lex laughed as Butch carefully rubbed his hand around the small bump of stomach on his wife, amazed that she was finally showing. The pregnancy was really real. He was nervous, of course, always voicing his fear of screwing up and hurting them both somehow. _

 

_ “You’re fine, babe.” Lex whispered, shaking hand petting reassuring touches against the other's cheeks.  _

 

_ At her trembling touch, Butch turned to kiss her palm, blue eyes looking up at her with worry. “You sure you’re feeling ok?” he asked, peppering her hand with kisses. Lex nodded, a blush appearing on her cheeks. _

 

_ “It’s nothing. Really.” _

 

_ Not believing her, Butch got up and stared at her, one eyebrow raised in suspicion. Hazel eyes looked away. _

 

_ After a minute of the staring contest, Lex gave in, huffing out a frustrated sigh. “Ok fine! I’m.. not ok. I feel.. pent up.”  _

 

_ Butch’s eyebrows shot up in surprise before a goofy smile spread on his face. “You horny Lex?” He giddily laughed, teasing her with playful touches to her sides. It earned a hard shove to the chest causing him to fall off the bed. _

 

_ Lex’s laugh echoed in their small room, Butch climbing back up onto the bed to tease his wife. He pressed kisses onto the nape of her neck, approved noises coming from his wife. _

 

* * *

 

 

Senses fading back from darkness, Lex was in the clinic, wrapped in the dusty blankets of the patient bed. Her father was seated next to her, injecting a needle into her arm before realizing his daughter was awake. Whatever was inside it made her feel calmer, the tugging feeling inside her subsiding as well. “How are you feeling sweetie? Still in pain?” he asked quietly, his hand pushing away the strands of hair over her face. 

 

“No..”

 

James sighed, leaning back in his chair next to her. “That’s good.” 

 

Lex tried to make herself comfortable on the clinic bed, a weight preventing her to do so. She realized it was Butch, fast asleep on her lap. He held onto her left hand as he slept. “What happened?” 

 

Despite the hesitation and fear, she had to ask. She never heard or read something like that happening to someone expecting. It felt like something that could only happen in horror stories, for that much blood to come out of her. 

 

“You had a miscarriage.. I’m sorry.”

 

It felt surreal when the word’s meanings dawned on her. The pain, the blood, of course that was the only possible thing to cause such a--

 

She had lost her child. 

 

The child they had finally gotten after fear of being taken away from each other. All their struggles, all their fears were now to be doubled again along with the continuation of the Project. They would have to go through the same thing as before, with fear of being separated.

 

No.

 

Not again.

 

Tears stung at Lex’s eyes, quickly rubbing them away before they fell. James noticed, squeezing his daughter's hand in reassurance. 

 

“It was in an early enough stage that it had not developed senses, or a brain. It did not suffer, sweetie.” James tried reassuring her, earning a sad nod. 

 

Before he could say any other words of reassurance, Jonas appeared at the clinics entrance, signalling the doctor over. James gave his daughter another reassuring squeeze to her hand, placing a kiss to her forehead before excusing himself.

 

She still could not really believe it. The child she never knew she would end up loving, the child she would share with Butch, was gone. Despite her eyes stinging with sadness, she was not able to cry for her unborn child. 

 

_ It was her fault they were gone. It was because her body wasn’t suitable enough. No matter how hard she tried, she would never get the happiness she wanted. _

 

“You’re awake.”

 

His voice broke her out of the spiraling train of thought, sleepy blue eyes meeting her own hazel with forgotten warmth. 

 

_ No. He was her happiness as well. _

“Hey.” She smiled, voice cracking as she tried to hide her growing emotions. If Butch noticed, he decided not to show that he did, taking the moment to stretch his arms over his head.

 

He already knew what happened. He knew why she was on the verge of crying.

 

It was a painful reality, one that he didn’t want to press her on, knowing it would be harder on her than for him.

 

Lex shuddered in the clinic bed, tugging up the thin blanket to cover her bare arms. She was only in her undershirt and underwear, realizing Butch carried her straight to the clinic in her nightwear, covered in blood. She briefly wondered if there were any of her spare jumpsuits from when she lived with her dad still around. Any old smaller ones would be better than staying half naked in the clinic bed.

 

It was only when she contemplated getting up to search for a spare set of clothes did she realize Butch was already providing her with some as well as something else.

 

Lex turned to Butch, watching as he took off his leather jacket. He looked it over, his hands tracing over the stitches on the snake design. “Here babe. It’s kind of old but..” He shrugged, placing it on top of her lap next to her spare jumpsuit.

 

She looked confused while accepting it, pulling it up to her chin to cover her shivering arms. Butch’s eyes looked her over, softening when he realized something. 

“It really does suit you.”

 

Lex raised an eyebrow, turning carefully to her side. The difference in position caused her to sigh, ridding her of the aches in her back. “Considering you, I would have thought you’d make me a new one.” She teased, placing her hand in his. 

 

Butch blushed in embarrassment. “It’s not done yet..” he confessed. Lex giggled but stopped immediately when pain stabbed at her abdomen. 

 

James walked back in in that moment, clinic door opening with a hiss, his face glistening with sweat. It looked like he had ran all the way back to the clinic from wherever it was he had gone to. “How are you doing, sweetie?” he asked as he tried to catch his breath.

 

Lex and Butch exchanged a concerned look before she answered. “Better. A little sleepy.”

 

“Everything ok Doc?”

 

James waved off the question, adjusting his disheveled hair and haphazardly worn lab coat, pulling the slipping edge back onto his shoulder. He hurriedly went to the other room of the clinic, busying himself with finding something while leaving both Butch and Lex confused in what was happening. 

 

Once he found the thing he was looking for, tucked away in a portable medicine box, the Vault’s doctor quickly made his way back out, stopping only to give his daughter a once over.

 

“Your vitals are steadying. The Med-X I gave you should last for another hour, so do not use another even if cramps return. Once four hours have passed, you can use another but only then.” The doctor’s words left him breathless, quickly rushing out the room. 

 

The metal clinic door slammed shut behind him, leaving both Butch and Lex even more concerned than before.

 

“You think Amata went into labor?” Butch asked, breaking confused silence. 

 

“Suzy would be a safer bet. Amata’s too early, she’s due in four or so more months.”

 

Calculations weren’t either of their strong suits, especially in something as foreign as pregnancy. The last one who was pregnant was Janice, may she rest in peace, and her date came earlier due to her carrying twins. Books say one thing, but Vault circumstances blew those percentages out of the water. Future children of the Vault could come at any time, alive or not.

 

It was just further proof at how much stress the Vault was under. No Project could calculate the losses when they needed to gain quickly.

 

Something just didn’t sit right with Butch. Suzy and Amata were nearby, staying in a birthing room that once was an old apartment from a previous Vault resident. The doctor wouldn’t have appeared winded if the concern consisted of them and their pregnancy. 

 

Maybe it had to do with another Vault resident’s injury? Possibilities were possible and with the Project still going, the less losses the happier the Overseer was.

 

Something just did not sit right with Butch, concern for the well being of both his wife and father in law making him think too much on it and his worry to worsen.

 

“I’m gonna go check on your pops.” The gang leader said, getting up from his chair. He hadn’t realized he was holding onto Lex’s hand until he let it go. “Maybe I could help.”

 

By now, what dosage of medicine coursing through her system caused drowsiness to begin to affect her, Lex nodding with fading consciousness. “I’m sure it’s nothing, but ok. Come back quick.”

 

The sleep tinted words caused Butch to chuckle, placing a soft kiss to his wife’s lips. “Yeah yeah, I promise I’ll be back.”

 

Before Lex could fall asleep, she began to wonder just how everything happened. Watching Butch become more and more domestic, something she never knew was possible for him, and so out of character, to losing her child. 

 

As a single tear rolled down her cheek, her vision fell into darkness, complete exhaustion overtaking her body.

 

* * *

 

 

The halls felt eerily quiet in the lower levels of the Vault, but it wasn’t anything new. Hardly anybody lived there anymore since the project started, save for a few expecting mothers bunking close to the clinic. 

 

The top floors were the busiest, as the older generations would hammer away age old advice to expecting parents or coming to age kids. 

 

Despite all that, it still didn’t explain the uneasy feeling growing within Butch. There were footsteps echoing further ahead, making him wonder if he might be more of a bother if whatever situation the doctor was in was more than he could handle. He wasn’t a doctor in any way, shape or form but he had steady hands.

 

Maybe going looking for the Doc was a bad idea. 

 

As doubt began to flood his thoughts, a blur of white sped off up nearby stairs almost causing Butch to jump in fright of seeing a ghost.

 

“Doc?!” he called out, heart still beating loudly against his rib cage. Before he could take a step further, loud alarms, ones he’d never heard before, began to ring loudly. Lights were dimmed, fluorescent white replaced with menacing red and orange spinning strobes. 

 

With another desperate call out to the disappearing Doctor, Butch followed the white blur up the stairs they took only coming face to face with the biggest, nastiest radroach.

 

“Fuck!” the Tunnel Snake yelped in the most manliest way possible, hand coming up instinctively to bat at the mutated pest before booted feet gave out from under him, the world spinning as he came crashing down the hard metal stairs. 

 

Over the loudness of the screeching alarm, the voice of the Overseer could barely be heard, the few words he could make out being Radroach infestation. A shudder shot down Butch’s spine at the word before he made to get up, thoughts immediately turning to his family. 

 

His mom was alone in her home and so was Lex in the clinic.

 

_ Shit shit shit! _

 

Quickly, he sped down the winding halls, mind racing on what to do. There was no way he would be able to do anything against those disgusting bugs, his body would freeze on sight. He hoped the infestation hadn’t spread far quickly, hoping that Lex would at least have a few minutes in safety while he made sure his mom was ok. 

 

* * *

 

 

The alarms were what woke Lex up. The fog had barely cleared out of her head when a sharp pain in her gut caused her to snap up in reflex, hands placed in her middle. The Overseer began to repeat something over the intercom, the alarm sounds too loud to catch anything clearly, but it sounded important. 

 

At the sight of an empty clinic room, worry began to grow in her. How long was she out? The alarms had woken her up but that didn’t mean they barely started ringing. Who knows how long they could have been going on for. 

 

Not finding laying around while enduring more cramps to be a good enough plan, Lex got up from the bed carefully, grabbing on her jumpsuit and easing herself in it. 

 

She hissed at the sting of zipping her jumpsuit over her stomach, the area still raw from earlier. 

 

Leather jacket becoming a comfort, with it now on her shoulders, Lex began to make her way out the hall before immediately stopping at the sight of a large radroach skittering down the hall. That’s what the alarms had been for. There was an infestation.

 

Figuring the bug wouldn’t bother her as it hadn’t seem to have spotted her, she crept further down the hall in the other direction and into a nearby staircase, peeking over the top step once reaching it.

 

A looming shadow met her face first, loud voice catching her off guard and almost causing her to slip down the steps. A warm familiar hand caught her though before she fell another step. It was officer Gomez.

 

“Lex! Oh thank god I found you first.” the officer breathed a sigh of relief.

 

“Officer Gomez! What’s going on?” 

 

The hand that helped pick her up suddenly let go, hand coming to reach for the officer’s police baton. Hazel eyes catching the movement, Lex ducked down just as the officer swung, a radroach behind her hissing before falling to the ground next to her. 

 

“There’s an infestation going on, but that’s not it. Something’s happened and the other officers are looking for your dad.” Officer Gomez panted, beating the radroach into the metal floor one last time. “It’s not safe here, and you’re in no condition to fight. I say head home and wait for it all to blow over. Jonas went looking for you but that’s all I know, dunno if he ran into trouble or not.” 

 

With a final nod of understanding, Lex made her way back to the clinic, bottom half stinging in pain from overexertion. The information about her dad worried her, but she hoped it was more about finding him to treat wounded rather than something bad. It wasn’t like him to jeopardize the Vault, right? If he knew anything more, Officer Gomez would have let her know before letting her go. 

 

* * *

 

 

Butch grunted in pain when the officer punched him in the stomach, causing him to double over at the force of the hit. “Where is the doctor?” the man bellowed, yanking the greaser’s head up by his hair. 

 

He spit at the officer’s face, anger getting the best of him. “I don’t fucking know-- what you’re  _ fucking  _ talking about.”

 

Wolfe dropped his hold on the other’s hair down harshly, stalking around Butch in a circle, wiping at bruised knuckles covered in blood. 

 

After making sure his mom was safe and somewhere far away from any radroaches, Butch had come face to face with charging security, having been spotted down the hall as he made his way back to the clinic. The sound of people talking amongst the chaotic noise of radroaches dying had brought him in that direction before being mugged and dragged away by the epitome of abuse of power. 

 

“You were looking for him, Butch don’t lie to me. You know where he is.” the bald officer said again, coming close to Butch’s crumpled body. When he didn’t answer, Wolfe swung down on his face, fist colliding to the side of his head and knocking him out cold. 

 

The other officer, Officer Richards stepped in and dragged Butch’s unconscious body into the jail cell, dumping him on the floor before shutting the door behind him.

 

“What do we do now?” 

 

“Find the girl.”

 

* * *

 

 

Tremors and stabbing pain began to start again as Lex paced around inside the clinic, not sure what to do. She could hear commotion outside and wanted to help but the awful feeling inside her kept bringing her to the edge of passing out.

 

At another pain spike, her legs began to give under her, painful tremors being the only sign before falling to the floor. One side of her body tingled with the beginning of a cramp before the feeling grew, causing her abdomen to clench. Lex watched horrified as blood began to seep out from the thighs of her jumpsuit. 

 

As her thoughts turned worse, the doors to the clinic opened, Jonas stepping through and quickly noticing her on the floor. Thinking quickly, he moved closer, picking a needle from the medical tray nearby and administrating it quickly on Lex’s arm. The dosage of Med-X quickly coursed through her body, helping ease the pain but not stopping the bleeding, though it gradually came to a halt as seconds passed.

 

While Lex regained her bearings from suddenly collapsing, Jonas feverently looked her over, checking her pulse and other vitals before helping her up. “You shouldn’t have been up so quickly after your surgery. You needed to rest..” The assistant mumbled to himself, hand hovering over his mouth in thought. The look on his face allowed Lex to realize that he was thinking a mile a minute, trying her hardest to understand just what had him so nervous. “She can’t travel in this condition, it would damage the recovery progress and the stress could open up the stitches just by walking up the stairs, let alone all three levels. But we can’t--”

 

“Jonas,” Lex breathed, gasping as a wave of nausea passed through her as the cramping disappeared from earlier. “What’s going on, why are you acting like this.”

 

With a shake of his head, Jonas began to usher her to a chair as he filled a bag with medical supplies. “There’s too much to tell you right now, once I get you out of here, I’ll tell you.”

 

The bag now as full as he liked, Jonas helped Lex up and began to usher her out of the clinic, ducking both of them in a nearby hallway as loud thundering footsteps marched towards the clinic. Before they could pick up that they just missed the two leaving, they quickly made their way up the stairs closest by. Hissing of nearby radroaches didn’t seem to stop Jonas, both their feet quickly pushing them down the hall before the bugs could even realize they were there.

 

“Is Butch with my dad?” Lex asked Jonas once they stopped at another intersection of halls. She grasped at the walls, holding herself up by sheer force of will through strained muscles and surging pain trying to push its way back up from being treated. Jonas mumbled to himself as he looked to make sure the coast was clear, grabbing onto Lex’s hand before dragging them into the science room down the hall.

 

The anxiety radiating from the older man just furthered the stress growing within Lex, the searing pain of her muscles screaming at her to sit down being the least of her worries. She needed answers,  **now.**

 

“Jonas!” Lex cried, falling against a nearby desk in exhaustion, hands hitting the metal frame loudly. The assistant quickly ran over, helping her up. “Where is my father? Where is Butch?”

 

At her words, Jonas’ eyes widened, eyebrows creasing with a look of worry and pity. “Lex I--”

 

The door to the room opened, revealing Officer Park in full riot gear. 

 

In what felt like half a second, the officer pulled out his gun, aiming it to the back of Jonas’ head. In the next second, as Jonas crumpled over dead, the gun switched to point at Lex. 

 

Whatever words the officer bellowed went unheard, the constant ringing of the gunshot drowning out whatever he said. All Lex could do was stare at the gun, at Jonas’ lifeless body on the floor, and the growing puddle of blood around her feet. 

 

A sharp pain coursed through her body, causing Lex to crumple to the floor. She cried out when a similar painful gushing fell down her stomach and to her legs, drops of her own blood joining Jonas’. 

 

A sneer stretched Park’s expression before another bullet rang out in the work room. 

 

* * *

 

 

Butch woke up to a throbbing pain on the side of his head, crusted blood flaking off from his closed eye as he blinked it open.

 

The sound of an alarm rang through the halls nearby, watching from the jail cell he was in as Officer Wilkins and Mack ran down the corridor outside. Their mouths were opened wide as they yelled at each other, whatever they were saying being drowned out by thick vault window glass and the alarms.

 

Butch had never heard the alarms ringing currently before, senses coming back just enough to comprehend what the frazzled security were screaming about.

 

The Vault door was open. 

  
Somebody got out.


	2. Alone after the Fallout

The officers outside the station scrambled to the Vault’s entrance, guns in hand. All Butch could really do was wait in the cell and watch what little he could. The swelling on his right eye had gone down enough since the hours he’d been locked up, he could now see through it again. 

 

They were looking for the doctor. Lex should be safe. It was only the Vault entrance opening, which caused the infestation. 

 

But then who got out?

 

_ Maybe the Doc left _ . Maybe that’s why they beat him for information. The Doctor must have been the reason why the radroaches infested the Vault as well. 

 

Worry caused Butch to double over in order to get up and rush the door, banging on it with his fists and heels of his boots to try to get it open. It was his own father in law that brought danger upon his own family, and extended family. He needed to get out and make sure they were safe. 

 

The noises only brought the attention of a passing security, Officer Park marching in and opening the door to the cell. In a split second when the door was opened, Butch rushed the officer, tackling him to the ground and making his way to the station entrance. A foot's reach to freedom only brought something to pull him and slam the Tunnel Snake to the floor, ribs and lungs crushed from the weight of the Officer’s body on top of him.

 

Butch struggled beneath him, crawling his way closer to the door. It was only once a police baton began to beat him against his shoulders and back did Butch’s struggling begin to dwindle, exhausted and hurt muscles failing him.

 

“Pathetic. Like a rabid dog.”

 

The voice of the Overseer droned above the Tunnel Snake’s dwindling consciousness, feeling a foot press against his head before being dragged back towards the cell he was in earlier. He could feel blood begin to pulse out of the side of his face where the boot scraped and pressed against his skin. The texture of the footwear tore at his already swollen skin, cutting it open.

 

The Overseer’s cold gaze followed him into the cell, hands behind his back moving forward with something in hand.

 

“I’m here to give you my condolences.” Were the only words he said before making his way back out, tossing something to the bloody space in front of Butch. 

 

The sound of metal hitting and rolling against the floor echoed in the small room, Butch’s blue gaze falling onto the small thing.

 

As it dawned on him as to what it was he was given, Butch scrambled closer to grab the small object, cold metal greeting his burning hot hands like a bullet to the gut.

 

It was Lex’s wedding ring. Dried blood was already crusted around the edging, staining the recycled metal jewelry piece.

 

In his whole life, Butch never felt the need to cry because of someone. There wasn’t anybody aside from his mom who he truly cared for.

 

Now, with the ring being the bringer of sad news, tears began to roll freely down the side of his face and into his open mouth.

 

He never knew what it felt like to lose somebody. Never somebody as important as Lex became to him. 

 

_ No no no this isn’t happening this is all a lie! _ He thought, hand tightening against the small ring.  _ She can’t be gone. She can’t be, she was fine! The doc got her stabilized! _

 

It felt like his life had fallen all around him. The dark pit that he was so used to growing up was back and worse than ever. Lex had become the shining light that helped him through it and now she was gone. She was gone.

 

“You pieces of shit!” 

 

Anger doubled inside of him, becoming the fuel to his strength and helping him begin to ram the door to his cell. The fist he held the ring in punched at the window, clenched hand aiming at the spot on the other side where the security watching over him was seated at.

 

All it did was earn him a flick of a middle finger from Officer Park, the older male returning to ignoring him seconds later. 

 

Yet Butch continued, punching away at the glass. He was angry, he was heartbroken, he was every fucked up thing he could think of at the moment and needed answers. “Where is Lex!? Where is my wife?!” he screamed, this time taking to kicking the glass. 

 

“She’s dead you fucking idiot.” Officer Wilkins growled as he marched into the guard station, opening the cell door and kicking the Tunnel Snake in the gut. “We found her dead in the clinic with blood around her.” He continued, beating Butch to the ground with his baton. A scream ripped itself out of the Tunnel Snake when the wooden stick cracked against his hand, crushing his fingers between wood and metal floor. “She died just like my daughter did! And it’s all your fault dumbass!”

 

“Her body’s already in the incinerator being burned to a crisp.”

 

“ENOUGH!” 

 

The door to the station opened once more as Officer Gomez walked in quickly, pulling Wilkins off of Butch. Enraged at what he saw, Gomez turned and pushed the other two officers out of the station, leaving Butch alone and still confined in the cell. 

 

Whatever argument was going on outside in the halls, Butch was unable to hear, and didn’t care to hear. 

 

Sharp pains in his chest that didn’t come from being beaten made him feel weak. He felt like the Vault could collapse on him and he wouldn’t care. He felt so alone.

 

He didn’t know how long he was out, or how much longer he would stay trapped in the cell. He knew nothing of anybody on the outside, if there were any other casualties or not. For the moment he couldn’t seem to care of the others, he just wanted out and to confirm what he was told for himself.

 

\---

 

The pain grew worse at night. The bruises along his skin ached and throbbed whenever Butch would move. His fingers trembled with how wrangled they had become, purple bruises already staining his exposed skin.

 

Any sleep he needed, wanted, was impossible with how much he hurt.

 

He idly wondered how much more he would be able to handle. How much longer until he passed out from exhaustion?

 

His head throbbed in pain when he swung it back to hit against the wall of the cell. 

 

Despite how much he ached, he felt the need to inflict pain upon himself, to make sure he was really truly experiencing what he was going through. It felt surreal.

 

His wife was dead. His child was dead. The Vault was dying. He was next. Everyone was.

 

“Fuck. Shut the fuck up.” He scolded himself, hitting the back of his head against the wall once more. 

 

He continued hitting himself until he didn’t notice when he passed out.

 

It was being tossed to the floor that woke him up some time later, Butch groaning at landing on his face and injured hands.

 

“Go home Butch.” A pitiful looking Officer Gomez said, face looking away from the person he was talking to. “You’re being released.”

 

Butch scoffed before walking away, ignoring any other words anybody had to say. He idly heard Gomez try to speak to him again but to no avail as Butch was already too far away to care. 

 

He didn’t remember how long he had been locked up for. The damaged Vault looked different than he remembered, yet he continued walking down strange, dirty halls.

 

His journey came to a halt when he realized he made it back to the clinic. It was instinct that brought him there.

 

Yet he wasn’t the only one. 

 

Amata’s instincts probably brought her there too.

 

Her small shaking body trembled over the bloodied bed in the abandoned room, her sobs echoing in the room. 

 

There was blood all along the floor, yet the deepest stain was on the bed. The mattress almost looked black compared to how it was before.

 

“Amata.” Was Butch’s only warning before he shoved her to the side and collapsed on the bed. Her cries grew as she landed on the floor, realizing it was Butch that moved her out of the way.

 

His hands ran along the dried material, the course, rough feeling of the dried blood causing the reality to sink in even more. 

 

“She’s gone.” 

 

“Butch--”

 

A sob wrenched itself from his throat. “She’s really gone.”

 

Arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders as tears ran down his face. The agonizing pain Amata felt was nothing compared to what Butch was feeling. Why was she crying when he was the one who her father beat, preventing him from protecting his wife? It was her father's fault!

 

“Get the fuck off.” He growled, hands shoving her onto the floor again. 

 

It was only then that he noticed her. 

 

The bulge where her stomach rounded out was gone. Or at least, it shrunk.

 

“Careful Butch.” A voice spoke from behind him, head snapping back to see Paulie at the entrance. “She’s recovering still.”

 

Paul looked as bad as Butch felt but with less noticeable damage.

 

“Good to know you’re still alive. Thought you died during the infestation.” Paul spoke, stepping closer to his friend and gang leader. “Wouldn’t want my family to be down one more when we just gained another.”

 

The bags under Paulie’s eyes were the most noticeable, making it look like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

 

Butch scoffed, turning away from his best friend. He couldn’t look at him, or listen to what he had to say. He didn’t want to hear him gloat about being a father right after he had lost his own wife and child.

 

All he wanted was to be alone. 

 

As if he knew his friend’s thoughts, Paul turned a pitiful, tired gaze toward his wife. The hand he offered to her was accepted, pulling her up from the floor with shaking arms. 

 

Butch needed his time alone to grieve. They would give him that much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Olan Rogers voice] it's uh.. it's been a while. It's been a while. Been busy with getting my life together so sorry I haven't updated this story. Also been distracted by other stuff. But I will keep writing this! I have no intentions of leaving it half written/on a cliff hanger. So.. yeah. Hope you enjoy it lol


	3. Actions have Consequences

Three days.

 

It had been three days that Butch had been locked up and beaten during the infestation. With how badly he had been beaten, it had felt shorter. He was surprised he could even do basic functions now at all. Without a proper doctor now, there was no telling what damage was going on up there.

 

Now a week later, the Overseer had allowed the list of the dead to be released.

 

Butch inhaled deeply at his cigarette as Officer Gomez’ voice wavered over the intercom. Ash dropped into the metal sink, the red ambers sizzling in leftover droplets of water.

 

“Jonas Palmer, Agnes Taylor, Le--” A pause over the intercom, the sound of a deep breath sounding through. The officer’s shaking voice broke, the strain of the last few days seeming to get to him now. He continued to read, clearing his throat in order to tread on. “Alexandria Valentino,Tom Holden, Floyd Lewis, Officer Stevie Mack, and Officer Wolfe. May their souls find peace in heaven.”

 

The Tunnel Snake spat tar stained saliva into the sink, the thick goo-like fluid oozing its way down the drain. 

 

He was never much of a smoker before, the sharp burn of the smoke filtering in his lungs reason enough before to keep him away from the habit. 

 

Now, however, the burning pain wasn’t as noticeable. 

 

The rare stinging along his badly healed, broken fingers and more than likely concussed head brought him to seek out a quick remedy. Something to ease his thoughts from real world pain. That also, however, brought along the need to find isolation, which in turn brought back bad thoughts and feelings. Goddamn fucking feelings.

 

He felt no reason to do anything, no reason to not do anything he wouldn’t before. Talking to people who would drop by to say their condolences they honestly didn’t mean felt like listening to a broken radio burried under pillows in a room next door. Food tasted like nothing but ash and chemicals. Which, in the Vault’s current situation, was as close at a guess, as to what they were actually eating. 

 

No fresh vegetation survived the infestation. There were no scientists left in the Vault to try and save the few produce they secured before the infestation happened. Food rations were cut to one meal per day, two at most.

 

Life was the worst it had ever been. 

 

Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. Hours felt like minutes and minutes felt like seconds.

 

Every day Butch would wake up to an empty bed, an empty home. Every week, he would wake back up to a bad dream that didn’t seem to have an ending. 

 

The only thing that wasn’t allowing him to feel truly lonely was Paulie and Amata, who would not stop trying to talk to him about something. Every day they would visit, each taking turns bringing their newborn along.

 

The sound of the child they always carried with them made him cringe. The damn little thing would always be on the verge of crying. 

 

He looked like his dad. 

 

The look of his friend’s face with the look of tears budding behind his eyes pissed him off. Old memories from when they were all young would resurface. 

 

Including her.

 

“Butch.”

 

He wondered if his child would have looked like him.

 

“Butch?”

 

Maybe they would have looked like her.

 

No. He couldn’t think that.

 

“Butch. Buddy.” 

 

Paul shook him, hand leaving a sweat mark on his bare arm. 

 

“Don’t touch.” he muttered, yanking his arm off. He tossed the burned out cigarette from his hand, hissing as a stray ember touched the skin of his wrangled fingers. 

 

Paul stared at him, brown eyes unmoving. A sheen of sweat coated his forehead. Damn, was he that out of it his friend was freaking out with worry?

 

A dissatisfied smirked pulled at Butch’s lips. Paulie just didn’t understand. Hell, maybe he, himself, didn’t either. 

 

“We’re worried Butch.” Paul sighed, wiping a hand to his neck. The baby in his arms cooed at the movement. 

 

The audible sound of thick spit hitting metal was the only sound resonating in the barber shop. He wouldn’t get another word out of him. 

 

What did they want from him to begin with? Did they want him to break down again and see him cry like he did in the infirmary, the day of his release? It took all it had within him not to march out and lock himself somewhere or go on a property damage rampage. 

 

Because Paulie was his friend. His only friend that stuck around, that seemed to care. Maybe that’s why he tolerated the visits. Maybe because, deep down, he was glad at least one of his best friends didn’t die.

 

A sharp pain brought Butch back from his thoughts, looking down to see a small hand grabbing onto one of his fingers. 

 

Paulie was doubling over, arms barely holding onto his son securely. “Sorry. Can you hold onto Noah for a second?” He panted, practically shoving his son into his friend’s arms.

 

“Dude are you serious--” 

 

The baby boy gurgled happily at being held by another despite the nasty look Butch was giving him. A sudden fear of being responsible for holding a child wavered Butch’s hold on the infant, nervous gaze wavering toward the father. 

 

Paul was leaning against the counter of the barber shop, breathing heavily against the old tile. Sweat drops fell from his pallid skin, Butch now noticing just how badly his friend looked. The look he had given him from before wasn’t directed towards him. 

 

“Paul, you ok, man?” Butch hesitantly asked, the concern in his voice snapping his friend out of whatever it was that was going on with him.

 

“Yeah..” he croaked. “Haven’t gotten much sleep since the kid came. Sorry I freaked out on you.” 

 

Neither wanted to say much of anything as they exchanged the child back to his rightful parent. All Butch could do was rub the back of his neck before walking out of the barber shop. 

 

He didn’t care to look back to see if his friend followed him or just left for his own home. The food cut and the lack of sleep was probably getting to him. He didn’t need Butch being a total depressed asshole right now. Best thing he could do was leave.

 

He was alone, once again. 

 

Boot clad feet led him back to his home subconsciously, hands instinctively going to take off his jacket only to remember he didn’t have one anymore. 

 

It had burned wrapped around  _ her _ in the incinerator.

 

A clenched fist slammed against the wall, crushed fingers popping in agony at the force of the hit. A heavy foot kicked over whatever stood in his way before slamming his hands against a dirty tiled counter.

 

Those goddamn bottled up feelings were growing inside him again. 

 

Every little thing that made him who he was was taken from him. He had nothing, lying practically bare in the broken tunnels he was given as a home. 

 

The apartment he was assigned to years ago now had walls crumbling, rusted metal breaking off corners and rotting through old wall paper. 

 

There was no one to maintain repairs in the lower homes since the infestation. Stanley was continually working in the Systems Room under strict orders from security and their boss. 

 

The Overseer’s hold on him was tighter than ever and he wasn’t going to let him or anyone else go.

 

Anger began to grow inside him. Just the thought of the Overseer and the damn security that kept him under lock and key while his wife needed him pissed him off. If only he hadn’t gotten caught, he could have returned quickly and been by her side when-- 

 

When she passed. 

 

“I know that look.” 

 

Butch looked up to see his mother standing at the doorway, bending over to pick up a fallen chair. She set it back to where it belonged before sitting down in it.

 

She didn’t say anything, instead placing down two cups she had brought with her and a tall dark colored bottle. Solemn colored eyes, the same color her son had, looked down at the dirty kitchen table. 

 

“You have two choices now Butch.” Her words were rough, as if she was forcing herself to speak. Their eyes never met yet it felt like they were having a staring contest and whoever looked away would lose. “1: You open this bottle and fall down the rabbit hole like so many have done before, or 2: You find some other poison that’ll burn the rough edges to make days feel less painful.”

 

Butch stared at the clean glass cups and then to the bottle. It was dark enough to not know what kind of liquid was inside of it. “That’s the advice you’re giving me?” he scoffed, brows furrowing in disbelief. It wasn’t like he had already started down a path by himself, but now it seemed his own mother was trying to encourage him to do the same she had done long ago. His mother shrugged, taking one of the glasses for herself before opening the bottle and pouring herself a full glass of the drink. The smell was so strong, just having it a hands reach away burned at his nose.

 

“I’m giving you a choice. Always, a choice.” She said, words coming off harsh with an undertone of some sagely advice, the meaning behind the words becoming lost in her actions as she downed half of the glass. Butch didn’t completely understand what his mother meant, blue eyes looking down at the glass he was given again. 

 

His hand shook on its own, pain from hurting it earlier coming back. 

 

He wanted to forget, to no longer feel the pain of loss. The pain of knowing no matter how much he tried, life would always find a way to screw him over.

 

With a final shake of his head to try to stop from thinking, he grabbed the glass and the bottle, watching as the dark amber liquid filled his cup.

 

_ To you, Lex. _

 

* * *

 

 

Butch tossed the note in the trash. Of course Amata would try to get through to him by using his mother against him. He didn’t care. Not anymore. 

 

The damn Overseer could do whatever he wanted, as long as he left him alone. 

 

These days, he hardly felt anything but annoyance and the constant grief of losing Lex and their unborn child. Amata seemed oblivious as to why he was still ‘'moping around’, as she had put it, over the death of their best friend and his wife when instead he should be angry towards her father. Of course, Butch didn’t understand how the two correlated together but what he did know is that Amata didn’t understand just how awful his life had become. 

 

If anything, the Overseer was the only one who was pretending to be more sympathetic than usual towards him for his loss, almost a year later. Butch would have appreciated and accepted the older man’s sympathy if the other hadn’t given him half of the alcohol reserves. He was hoping to control him through alcohol similar to how he did his mother. It would have worked were he not the delinquent he had tried to have beaten to death in a jail cell on multiple occasions. 

 

All he wanted was for them all to leave him alone. He didn’t care that security was getting  more violent towards anybody who refused to continue with Project Protocols. He didn’t care that the control group of said Project was fighting back against the Overseer’s stern dictatorship and deeming themselves rebels.

 

All he wanted was his wife back. His old life, before he became broken.

 

“Psst! Butch!”

 

Butch looked up from where he was walking, spotting Paul peeking his head from behind a corner. The barber sighed, walking a bit faster than before to meet with his friend.

“What’s up Paul?” 

 

The young man looked around, making sure there was no one within hearing distance to eavesdrop on their conversation. “Did you get Amata’s note?”

 

Butch groaned, turning around quickly and beginning to walk off before Paul grabbed at his shoulder. “Listen! We think we found something important and think you need to see with your own eyes. It’s.. It’s about Lex. And her dad.”

 

“Look man, just leave me alone. She’s gone, man--”

 

Both of Paul’s hands gripped onto Butch’s shoulders tightly, the Tunnel Snake shaking his boss to make him pay attention. “Amata seems to think Lex is alive.”

 

“That’s not fucking funny--” Butch’s voice grew to an almost snarl, his temper beginning to get the best of him. The hands Paulie had on his friend were yanked off easily.

 

Exasperated at his leader, Paul began to drag the other down the hall until they reached his apartment, Butch putting up a struggle. Paul opened up the door, shoving Butch in and quickly closing the door behind them in order to prevent the other from marching out. Butch sighed, more than pissed at his friend. He just wanted to go home and sleep the day away. Maybe knock back a few drinks on his own to keep the memories away.

 

Amata appeared from behind one of the apartments other bedroom doors, holding onto her son in one arm and a holotape securely in her other hand. At the sight of Butch, she quickly rushed over, halfway tossing the tape at the Tunnel Snake. “Listen to it.” she ordered, heading to the kitchen just as the almost a year old infant in her arms began to cry. Paul staggered after his wife, trying to help her with their child. 

 

Butch sighed, figuring he could at least humor the two. They would keep bothering him otherwise if he kept ignoring them and take away from his drinking time. Written on the tape in the Overseer’s writing was  _ Incident Log #2 _ . He was surprised at the number two. They had stolen something from Amata’s father, something the two would never have done before. Not only that but it looked important. He was a little impressed. Maybe the Tunnel Snakes had rubbed off their rebellious habits on her without any of them realizing.

 

Once the tape slid into the holder of his Pipboy, the Overseer’s voice began to grainily play from the compact computer’s speakers. 

 

“ _ Incident Log 2, date marked February 2279 _ . _ The Vault was breached earlier today at approximately 1200 hours. As of now, any contaminants from the outside have been purged and the Vault has been sealed shut.”  _ The old man let out a disgruntled sigh, what sounded like doors closing and things moving around following before he spoke again.  _ “James was seen opening the Vault door before disappearing, along with his daughter following close behind. It seems she survived the trauma and treatment we provided her before the incident. It is likely her father caught onto what we were doing when she and her ruffian of a husband checked her into the clinic that morning and warned her.”  _ more shuffling.  _ “One of the security, Officer Wilkins I believe it was, witnessed the doctor’s daughter shooting Wolfe in the head and almost gunning him down as well before departing from the Vault. My top priority as of now, is to ensure the project continues in order to replace any members we may have lost to those saboteurs.” _

 

The audio cut off with a click after the sound of shuffling continued. Butch was frozen, completely overwhelmed with the information he obtained. Anger, joy and defeat covered him whole, as if it were a suffocating substance drenching him from head to toe. 

 

Lex was  _ alive _ . She left the Vault, unlike the story the Overseer told him after that day. 

 

“Did you hear the part when he was talking about Lex?” Amata asked, sitting down beside Butch. “Whatever this treatment was that they gave her, I’m willing to bet they were trying to hurt her baby.” 

 

“He was trying to kill all three of us.” Butch corrected, shaking his head in disbelief. The Overseer was never a fan of Butch or Lex, since the beginning of the Project to now.

 

His thoughts began to swirl, just the thought of being able to see his wife again making the life he led without her come crashing down around him. He needed time, time to himself to process everything.  _ Lex was-- no, IS-- alive! _

 

He needed to go find her.

 

Chest beginning to heave, Butch leaped from his seat on his friend’s couch, eyes wide and heart beating a mile a minute. “I need to go-- I need to look for her!” He all but yelled, impatiently making his way to the apartment door. 

 

“Butch! You can’t!” 

 

Amata prevented the door from opening, slapping the gang leader’s hand from the door mechanism. He shot her a dirty look, mouth turning downwards into a snarl. “My father has the Vault entrance on lockdown, there are security patrolling everywhere there. If you set foot anywhere near them they’ll blow your head off before you even realize it.”

 

“I’ll just fight them all then! I don’t care! I need to find Lex!”

 

“With what weapons?!” Amata raised her voice, all but yelling into Butch’s face. Her eyebrows were creased and pushed down into the area where brow bone met nose, wrinkles from stress growing there. Were it any other situation Butch would have laughed.

 

“I’ll get some! I don’t care how, I’ll-- I’ll get the Tunnel Snakes to watch my back and I’ll--”

 

Stinging pain from a hard slap to his cheek stopped him from continuing his words.

 

Amata’s hazel eyes burned into Butch’s own surprised blue. “If you want to find Lex, you need to stay alive.” She all but growled in his face. The scowl she had on her face faltered before fully falling, showing the tired look she had tried to keep hidden. “I want to find her too, Butch. She’s my best friend.”

 

Amata took a few seconds to regain her composure before continuing. “We can’t do this alone, especially since your Tunnel Snakes are just you and Paulie--”

 

“Freddie too.” Paulie added, interrupting his wife as he appeared beside his friend. His wife rolled her eyes, knowing that Freddie wouldn’t be much of any help in this type of situation. 

 

“We need to get everybody on our side, or it’s just going to lead to more trouble on our part. We can’t get people getting in the way as we take back our Vault from my father.”

 

A feeling of hope sparked itself inside of Butch at her words. He could at least understand the plan she had, and if she needed muscle support he would get her what she needed. 

 

If it meant he would get closer to finding Lex, he would do whatever she asked him too.

 

_ Wait for me Lexie, I’m coming to find you. I swear it. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a long wait, but here's the next chapter! Things are about to get interesting.... :)


	4. The Rebels

The halls of the Vault were quiet as the lights were dimmed for the night. The overseers precious curfew was still in effect, the facade of control he believed he still had giving him confidence in leaving his office for the night. The ring of keys he’d inherited from his predecessors twinkled in his hands as he locked the door behind him.

The stress of the past months were beginning to take a toll on him, the pulsing headache in the back of his head where his skull met his neck being a constant reminder of that. With the amount of work to keep the project running and producing future Vault occupants to keep the Vault alive, the Overseer hardly had time to rest, spending most of his time in his office.

For once, he could go home.

His ways of controlling people seemed to finally be taking effect, the Vault becoming silent and efficient the past few days despite how many jobs still needed to be filled. He had believed to have finally successfully influenced his most problematic Vault occupant with an alcoholic influence, deeming the amount of disruptions in everyday work decreasing more and more. Maybe, finally for once, the Vault could begin returning to normal and start going his way.

Unbeknownst to the tired Overseer, the problematic occupant he thought was under his control appeared behind his departing person, head peeking out from the corner of a hallway. Blue eyes kept locked on to the leader of the Vault, making sure he was well out of sight before quickly making his way to the now empty office door.

As Butch made work of the lock system, a second sneaking figure made its way toward the office door as well before placing their hand against the Tunnel Snakes back.

“C’mon man, we don’t have much time before security makes their rounds!” Paulie panted, constantly glancing over his shoulder as if, at his words, an uninvited figure would appear behind them.

“I thought Amata told you to stay back. Doesn’t she have faith in me?” Butch complained, focusing all his attention on the lock. The machinations of the device were beginning to bend to his bidding and open up for him, only needing one last push before he could collect his prize.

With a click, both male eyes turned to the door, eyes brightening as it opened for them.

The two exchanged a mutual look at completing their mission without a hitch. They quickly made their way inside, closing the door behind them to prevent any security eyes spotting them before they could finish what they came to do.

The office was left in a disheveled state, papers and files left strewn across the circular desk. Butch didn’t know what kind of paperwork the Overseer even needed for his job considering everything was always in an easily accessible terminal anyways. That didn’t stop him from writing a huge “FUCK YOU” covering each paper in pen.

Butch dug through his jumpsuit pocket once he was satisfied in his work, fishing for the small tape Amata, the resistance leader, had given them.

Just as fingers gripped onto the small square object, Paul hissed a quick warning, ducking below the office window as the shadowy figure of one of the Vault’s security passed by. Butch had ducked against the desk just in time as the officer turned to look into the office before continuing on his patrol.

Paul sighed, sliding onto the cold floor. He wiped a hand against his brow before giving his friend a thumbs up.

“Drama queen.” Butch chuckled, before making his way to the Overseer control terminal.

Scratching his head at not knowing where to start, Butch pressed a few buttons to start the terminal up before following the instructions Amata had him memorize.

He continued pressing buttons while muttering under his breath at how difficult maneuvering the main controls of the Vault was. Why is there so much scrolling?! This shit’s impossible!

With a final slam at a button to access a deeper layer into the system, Butch shoved his hand into his pocket once again to grab the small tape he needed to push into the access port of the terminal in order to complete his task. His heart hammered away in his chest, knowing if things went well, he would be days closer in finding Lex and being together once again.

Paul made a sound of warning again just as Butch struggled to pull out the holotape from his stuffed pocket, yanking it out as the shadow of a nearby patrolling security passed by the window.

The square shape of the tape was firmly against the palm of his hand, but another hard edge had pushed its way by the grove of his wrist, being pulled out at the same time but with no support.

The gleam of his trusted pocket knife made his heart leap as it clattered on the floor and bounced to a dark corner of the office, Paul ducking down as the officer in the hall snapped to attention at the sound.

Butch didn’t hesitate, shoving the holotape into the terminal and continuing on, pressing the Broadcast button before anxiously waiting for the tape to pop back out.

“Sir? Is that you?” The officer on the other side of the door, officer Wilkins, asked. When no answer came, the door rattled as it tried to open up from the other side, Paulie holding down the lock from their side to give them enough time to finish what needed to be done.

Butch impatiently grabbed at the ejected tape, shutting down the terminal as the lock to the door gave way, both Paulie and Butch hiding behind nearby furniture to avoid getting caught, Paul hiding behind a nearby palm plant and chair whilst Butch ducked under the Overseer’s desk. His eyes blinked toward where his pocket knife had fallen, it being too far away and in the line of sight of security to grab it without being found out.

Wilkins stepped through the now open door, eyeing the lock he was working with curiously before turning on the flashlight on his vest armor. Once he was a good distance away, Paul crawled out into the halls, keeping an eye on where he saw his friend hide. Butch hesitantly peeked out, keeping track of where the footsteps sounded from.

The officer was making his way from Butch’s right, so the way out from his left would be clear once Wilkins had made his way just a bit closer to where Butch was hidden currently. He would only have one chance at making it out without either of them getting caught.

 _C’mon Butch, don’t mess this up. You mess this up and you might as well kiss Lex goodbye again!_ He scolded himself, calming his itching nerves down in order to be patient and to pay attention to his exit point. There was only one chance.

One chance.

When Wilkins stepped to the corner of the desk with his back turned to look at a corner parallel to the desk of the office, Butch dashed out as quietly as he could, scuttling his way towards the exit on his hands and knees.

As soon as he was out the door, almost colliding head first with Paul, they both made their getaway, speeding down the hall they knew would be empty in that moment.

The two only began to relax and laugh once they were outside of the Overseer’s office vicinity, breathy laughs echoing in an empty utility corridor. Butch shoved Paulie by the shoulder as the two cheered at each other for completing their mission with no error. Butch even jumped and clicked his heels in a goofy manner to pull another round of wheezing laughter from his best friend before running towards the rebellion’s headquarters deep within the Vault.

“You guys!” Amata almost screeched as the two entered the storage room, both trying hard to catch their breath. The child she held in her arms squirmed in his sleep but didn’t wake up, Butch throwing a look of mild apology her way.

Paulie continued to wheeze as he plopped down onto an old metal crate, giving his wife a thumbs up. “He did it.” he pointed towards Butch as he wiped his brow.

“You did just as I told you?” Amata asked, tone and face turning completely serious. Butch nodded, cocky smile plastered on his face. The redhead nodded in approval, turning back to the table she had been staring down onto before the two returned. “You two did good, despite instructing one of you to get rest.”

Paulie rolled his eyes at his wife’s words.

“We move onto phase two.” She began, stepping aside to let Butch take a look at the schematics she had been pouring over.

“Weapons raid?”

“It’s now or never.”

“Finally!”

It took everything not to sigh at the Tunnel Snakes childishness. Had the changes he had gone through with Lex completely disappeared in her absence? Or was it her presence that brought out his need to be a cocky asshole? Whichever it was, she was glad that his mood had elevated from his past self destructive assholeness at least, even if his current personality could backfire on their situation.

The schematics of where the weapons were being kept seemed to have been drawn with a shaky hand but they were readable nonetheless. Amata pointed to easy access points in order to get as many weapons as they could in a short amount of time while simultaneously building a plan around her explaining. Paul watched as his wife and best friend looked over the papers on the table with calculating eyes, each giving the other time before adding their own two cents to the planning. It was a sight to see.

Once the two would have been screaming over each other in a fight and now the two looked at each other with a form of respect.

It really was a sight to see.

A bitter heaviness fell over Paulie’s shoulders, sighing as he settled into the crates some more. His hand went to his left wrist, scratching at it absentmindedly. He felt tired.

So tired.

The voices of his two friends began to go in and out as sleep began to overtake him, shoulders falling in a relaxed manner, tired muscles settling against cold metal crates.

It was hours into the early morning before Butch and Amata settled on a plan. They were so out of it they could barely manage to blink, their eyes were so strained.

The child in Amata’s arms yawned, beginning to wriggle himself awake allowing his mother to realize just how late they had kept working. She had turned to her second in command who had already began to fall asleep in his chosen seat of multiple crates before her eyes turned to her husband.

Butch had taken to reciding in their old hangout turned base of operations enough that he had already claimed a small corner as his sleeping area, covered in blankets and old pillows from his abandoned apartment. Amata wasn’t too worried of leaving him alone but she and her own family needed to go home to keep up appearances and not give away their ties to the resistance that her father was trying to prevent. Her tired eyes scanned the area where she had last seen her husband resting in, finding him in a hidden corner near the entrance behind old food storage crates.

He was slouched over the crates he had sat on hours ago when they had completed their mission as if he hadn’t moved an inch since then.

“Paulie..” Amata yawned, approaching her husband so he could wake up and they could go home.

The silence that persisted was deafening as she stood in front of her husband’s unmoving body. She knelt in front of him, supporting their child with one arm as she reached toward her husband with the other.

His skin had a thin layer of sweat left on it and was deathly cold. One of his hands was folded over the wrist of his other arm, a pale purple bruise barely visible from the cover of his hand. Moving it uncovered an old wound that looked to have healed over horribly, the scar tissue looking a sickly yellow circled by bruised pale purple contrasting his dark skin, trailing down his arm alongside his visible veins were red scratch like trails and scabbing lesions that were not there before.

Amata shuddered a cry as she was overcome with fear, sadness and an overwhelming feeling of failure.

Her body shook as she crumbled against her husband’s lifeless body.

She had promised herself she would not lose one more person. She had promised him that he would get better since the first day of his depleting health. It didn’t help that her father had barred anyone from using the salvaged medicine in the clinic and assigned an on the fritz Mr. Handy as Vault doctor.

She could have, should have, done more to make sure this didn’t happen. She should have pushed the plans faster, just as Butch had wanted, maybe that way they could have saved him..

The child in her arms whimpered in his mother’s hold, small chubby hands reaching for her as if he could sense her distress.

No.

She couldn’t give up hope. Other’s well being were residing against her success in taking over the Vault and opening its doors to the outside world.

Even if she had pushed her plan, she didn’t know how long this part of it would take.

Maybe his death was inevitable. She didn’t know.

But she had to carry on.

For everyone.

\---

The embers of the incinerator reflected off of Amata’s eyes, saying her final goodbyes to Paulie. Butch was outside the incinerator room, drinking straight from a brown bottle, his quiet sniffing giving away his sadness to the people attending the funeral.

Freddie was visibly crying, sobbing into the crook of his arm and occasionally placing his hand to the incinerator before pulling it away with a quiet yelp each time.

Paulie’s mother held onto her grandson for dear life, crying uncontrollably into a handkerchief. The child wriggled in the older woman’s hold, occasionally crying for his mother.

A loud commotion began to grow outside the room once the ceremony was over, Amata quickly making her way out to make sure security hadn’t caught on to any leads of the rebellion.

Instead of security, Amata was met with a drunken Butch pushing away and physically ready to fight an angry Wally. The red head, once realizing the crowd that had grown around them, turned to Amata with a serious look on his face ignoring the threats Butch was shouting his way.

“What do you want, Wally?” She asked, looking up at the other with disinterest.

“I want to join.” He stated blankly, earning even louder words of anger to come out of Butch. “I know what I did but this isn’t for my sake of redemption, ok? I fucking hate Lex but I have family that needs protection. Your guys’ little attempt at reclaiming the Vault or whatever is the best bet at keeping them safe when the Overseer’s shit attempt fails.”

At his words, Christine appeared from behind Wally, holding onto the orphaned child of Janice and Stevie. Suzie also stood next to her cousin and brother, noticeably thinner and exhausted.

Taking the pause in conversation as a good thing, Suzie stepped forward, eyeing the way Butch swayed to turn and look at her before using that moment to put her own two cents in in order to convince the leader and her old friend. “We figured you’d need more people to do any real damage. Christine can look after the kids while we do whatever you need. She’s really good with kids! Wally and I, well, we can sneak around since our dad is y’know--”

“No.” Butch growled, interrupting her. “I don’t want this fucking rapist anywhere near our group.”

A gentle hand was placed on Butch’s shaking arm, drawing his attention towards Amata. The look in his eyes did little to calm him down.

“Do this job for us and you’re in.” Were her final words on the matter before she began to walk away. Paulie’s mother ushered Christine and Suzy to follow, both girls doing their best to catch up to Amata.

The only people left were Butch, Freddie and Wally, the two once leaders of the Tunnel Snakes glaring each other down. “You screw this up and you’re dead.” Butch threatened, voice dripping with poisonous anger. The twitch of the other’s eye was the only sign the other took his threat to heart.

“We’re all dead anyway.”

The three followed where Amata had walked off to after she had called them down, her and the rest of the littered rebellion waiting at the bottom of the stairs. At a look thrown his way, Butch marched up first before the rest began to follow.

Just as the rest began to leave, Wally was pulled to the side by Amata, her green eyes staring him down.

“In a few days, this mission will go down and you need to be ready. I will fill you in on the details later tonight. Meet me in the lower storage room then if you want your family to be safe.” Her words, similar to how Butch’s were, were tinted with an underlying threat.

Not waiting for the other to give her an answer, she made her way up the stairs, knowing that if he really wanted his family to stay safe he would follow her leadership no matter what. All she really needed to worry about was making sure her second in command knew that if the newest members didn’t follow through they would need a back up plan.

Butch would need his strength to fight some more soon, knowing by his physically visible addiction at the funeral that he wasn’t doing good in dealing with the loss of his best friend.

As she had expected, Butch was waiting for her at the storage room, looking over their plans in a cold unlit corner. If she hadn’t known he would be there, she wouldn’t have expected to see him.

“He shouldn’t be a part of this.” He began, picking up the bottle he was drinking from earlier and taking a large swig. He grunted at the burn but ignored it, placing down the drawn on paper that held their plan to look at Amata.

She had sat down next to him, resting the back of her head against the cool metal wall. “If things don’t work out, he can just be used as bullet fodder for all I care.”

Her words earned a small breath of a laugh from Butch, causing him to fully turn to her. “What happened to the goody two shoes daughter of the Overseer?” he teased, drinking again from his bottle before offering some to the other.

She shrugged, refusing the drink. “I share the same feelings with you, that we don’t need a possible rapist among us, but we also need as many people as we can right now.”

It was only then that the two really began to realize the responsibility of what being a leader truly meant and how much it would weigh on their shoulders.

Everyone’s well being was resting on this plan and they had to make sure it went accordingly in a few days.

\---

Wally followed his father down the corridor, eyes trained on the back of the other’s head. The words his father was saying held no meaning, no matter how enthusiastic he sounded. He could gush on and on about how proud he was that his only son was joining the Vault’s security at such an important time and in a much needed moment when threats of rebellion were high. Or so he said.

The younger knew that they didn’t know who broke into the Overseer’s office yet, despite it being so evident it was Butch’s handiwork. He could practically roll his eyes and relax at how stupid security was at not connecting the dots and having his group be found out.

“Here is where you get your new fancy armor, boy.” Mack Sr. beamed with pride as he opened up the reserves locker.

Wally eyed the line of pistols and armored security vests before nodding to his father. He began to reach for his ‘assigned’ outfit before the door to the security office opened and Suzy stepped through.

“Dad! There’s something happening in the diner!” She gasped for breath over dramatically, making a show at pretending she had ran all the way from the restaurant despite having hidden a few halls away. Wally tried his best not to break character and laugh at her bad acting. Their father was on alert immediately, turning to his son one last time before he made his way out the door.

“Grab your gear and meet me there, I’ll get the rest of the security in the meantime! Hurry, this is where you show me you’re as good as your brother! Go!”

As their father sped around corner, Suzy waved a nonchalant hand to his disappearing form before quickly making her way inside to help her brother grab the supplies. It was only a matter of minutes before he and the rest of security realize there’s no actual situation going on and they would come back to a depleted weapons locker.

The siblings gave each other a look before taking all they could carry, now both wearing a vest of their own for protection.

Before Wally stepped through the door, his eye caught sight of something on the requisitions desk, peeking out from a folder filled with paper work, knowing exactly what it was by just the shape of the end sticking out.

A feeling grew within him, lasting a split second before he shrugged it off and moved on leaving the pocket knife on the desk untouched.

 _It was that idiot’s own fault for being reckless_. He told himself, the idea of taking it nonexistant within his thoughts. _They must already know it was him then_.

Wally continued down the halls, uncaring of the consequences he would inflict on the second in command as well as the rebellion.

Once back at the base of operations, he and Suzy placed the weapons and armor ontop of a table, ready to take inventory of what they had and how much they would need to distribute amongst each other.

As the day went on, more of the rebellion group began to appear, trickling in one by one with large space of time between each arrival.

It was Amata who came last, holding onto a crying Christine before Wally and everyone else was met with a look of defeat by the leader herself, knowing all too well what just happened. Despite the pile of weapons and armored vests that were on the makeshift table, she approached him and the other members with a tight-shouldered stance, Christine passing by the huddled group without even a glance in their direction.

“He took them.”

Amata shuddered a breath at what she was about to say. A muffled wail from Christine came from somewhere deep within the storage room, Wally looking around at the people present.

Butch was nowhere to be seen.

“The took Butch. To be interrogated or killed, I don’t know. But my father also took the children, our children, to be held as hostages, to prevent us from making any other move of overthrowing him.”

A rumbling of voices filled the room, people turning to look at each other for an answer on what to do.

“Before he was captured, Butch and I had already gone through with a backup plan if this situation would arise, but..” Amata regained her focus with a deep breath. “We don’t have time to wait for her help. We are at war now.”

\---

The sun rays of the outside world shone down brightly from the sky, its warm light warming up dirty skin as dust was blown around by a gust of wind.

A toothpick dangled from chapped lips, a grease covered hand coming up to pluck the stick from its mouth and tuck it away safely in a pants pocket.

The gun that resided in the other hand shone as evidence of it being recently cleaned, the torn rag that was used to shine it being placed down as static filled the air.

A new radio signal tried to play, the static noise coming in and out with the message it was trying to focus on.

With expert like fingers, the radio was tuned on the portable computer, the message beginning to clear up and a familiar female voice coming through.

_It feels like you left home a long time ago, but I know you're still out there. I just hope you're still alive to hear this. Things got worse after you left. The new Overseer is insane. If you can hear this, please help save us. I changed the door password to my name. If you're hearing this, and you still care enough to help me, you should remember it. Message repeats.._

The voice began again, relaying the message over and over until the station was turned off.

Lex stood on the rocky ledge of the broken freeway she was sitting on, holstering her large shotgun on her backpack.

As another large gust of wind blew up any debri and dust that wasn’t held down by anything, the once Vault resident adjusted the hat she wore before setting on her journey back southeast, back to the place she once called home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No proof reading or revisions, uses google chrome to spell check everything lets go boys!! Hey hi you guys, i hope youre enjoying the story so far cuz uh its about to get crazy w the whole net neutrality thing going on! Also im broke as fuck and struggling to find a job so theres that! Anyways enjoy! See you in the next chapter!


	5. Back Home

The sound of the Vault door opening sent a feeling of reminiscence through Lex, the loud grating noise reminding her of an alarm she always set when she lived there. It was something familiar, yet brought a feeling of dread to her. She really did not want to hear that sound anytime soon. 

 

But they needed her.

 

The entrance to the Vault was gruesome, dozens of bullet shells littered the floor. In one of the dark corners was the body of Steve Armstrong, looking fairly new next to everything else. The frail boy Lex once knew was all but skeleton now, despite his wounds looking about a day old. The Vault really was in as dire need as the broadcast said. To let the sickly reach the edge of death was chilling. The Vault she grew up in was no longer the Vault she knew.

 

Strengthening her resolve, Lex pushed on, opening the door inside and entering the Atrium. She was met with the back of Officer Taylor who was holding up a gun and ready to fire. He hadn’t spotted her yet, due to his attention completely on Freddie who was wearing a familiar leather jacket. Lex readied her combat shotgun on the back of the old man’s head. If he were to pull the trigger and shoot down Freddie, she would shoot.

 

“Get out of here, Freddie!” The old man cried, pain evident in his voice. 

 

Freddie stammered, hesitating between running away and standing his ground. “I’m not here to pick a fight with you old man, but if that’s what it’s going to taken then--! Well then so be it, geezer!” 

 

Lex glanced between the two, catching Freddie’s line of view. Her old friend looked surprised at seeing her again, a small smile growing on his face. She beckoned him to leave with her head, tapping the muzzle of her gun against the old man’s helmet. When he turned around slowly, Freddie took the opportunity to run away, shutting the broken atrium door behind him. “Wha-- i-it’s you!” 

 

A smile tried to force its way on Lex’s face at the sound of fear in the old security’s voice. His eyes were wide with fear, yet she could see anger behind them. “You have a lot of nerve coming back here after all that you’ve done! Why I-- I should shoot you down myself!”

 

She had to give him credit for trying. “Do you not see the big ass gun in your face?” She said, poking the muzzle against the protective glass on his helmet. The old man swallowed, his anger deflating along with his sense of justice. “Pretend you didn’t see me, and I promise I won’t hurt you.” 

 

“Please.”

 

At her words, the old man moved to the side, letting her through. She kept the gun pointed at him until she was in front of an open door. “A lot of people died because of you and your father, you know.” Old man Taylor cried out, his voice shaking with anger or fear, she couldn’t tell. 

 

“I’m here to help.” Lex responded with a smile and a shrug, closing the door behind her.

 

With her shotgun still in hand, she made it through the barricaded halls, taking note of any recent damage along the way. She was surely going the right way. If she were in Amata’s shoes, she would choose somewhere safe and hard to get to to set up a safe zone for surviving rebels. Which would mean somewhere in the lower levels. 

 

Just as she was making it to a stairwell, a security clad figure appeared from around the corner, spotting her. They both raised their weapons and pointed them at each other, the security’s resolve wavering at the sight of the large gun pointed in his direction. Compared to his measly 10mm, Lex’s absurdly large shotgun would tear his armor to shreds in a second. When the two got closer and into the light, the officer lowered his weapon slowly. “Lex?” 

 

“Officer Gomez?” Lex whispered, lowering her gun slightly. A smile was visible behind his protective glass. 

 

He sighed, putting away his weapon. “I’m glad to see you’re not hurt. And definitely not dead like the Overseer told us.” At Lex’s hesitation to put away her weapon he gave her an apologetic smile. “Butch will be glad to see you..”

 

The name of her husband made her hesitate, worry growing in the back of her throat. “He’s ok?” Officer Gomez nodded solemnly.

 

“If you go down those stairs, you’ll find the group of rebels.” He stated, pointing behind him with his thumb. Lex raised an eyebrow, skeptical as to why he was being so generous and not answering her question.

 

“Why are you helping me?” Lex asked. “With how I left here I figured everybody else would still feel the same.”

 

The officer shook his head. “I tried helping you since I knew it wasn’t your fault. I also know Amata was the one to call for your help. I just don’t want to see anybody else dying.”

 

The two nodded to each other, Lex quickly making her way down the steps. She planted a mine at the bottom of the steps just in case it was a trap.

 

The hallways were littered with tables, desks, and cabinets to make fortifications and barriers between the rebels and the Overseer’s security. She continued to duck around the debri until she spotted her friend’s head peeking out from behind a wall of shelves.  

 

Lex tucked away her shotgun once the coast was clear, turning to look for Amata. Her best friend appearing and waved at her from behind a makeshift barricade, signaling her to follow.

 

The girls stepped down the corridor quietly, keeping an eye out for security. Neither wanted to speak, or didn’t know what to say considering the situation. The message that played over and over the vault’s frequency had given Lex enough of an idea as to why it was currently in turmoil. 

 

They were rebelling against the Overseer’s suffocating rule. At last. The old man had gone insane trying to regain control of the situation within the Vault. It was a long time coming, but Lex was glad Amata had done her best to find out the truth her father had hidden away from her and the entire Vault.

 

A part of Lex was proud for her best friend, for finally going against her father and fighting to live her own life. Another part of her felt remorse towards her and the rest of the Vault. She was sure they all suffered when the Vault was opened and was infested with Radroaches.

 

It wouldn’t surprise her if everyone hated to see her alive. The Overseer had most likely painted the whole incident as her family’s fault. 

 

“Amata..” She began, hesitating to look at her friend. At her name, the woman stopped and turned. Her eyes looked hollow. “What’s happened?”

 

A grim smile tugged at her lips. Her whole face looked like it was forcing emotions onto it. “I’m sorry.” She whispered, continuing to walk down the hall. “There was nothing I could do to prevent you getting hurt back then.”

 

Her words surprised her. She was talking about when she was forced to leave when the whole Vault was in turmoil. “O-oh? Don’t worry about it. There was nothing any of us could really do.” Lex continued following her friend as she was filled in on recent progress and events, noticing the part they were in the Vault was near her old home. 

 

Her first one at least.

 

“Just let me know what happened and what I can do, and I swear, I’ll fix everything.” 

 

Once inside the clinic, Amata brought her over to a secluded area, away from any of the Vault survivors. It surprised her to see Wally amongst the group, considering both his brother and father were part of security. As if detecting her gaze, he turned and glared at her. It took Suzie and Christine to hold him back from approaching her and picking a fight. To annoy him even more, she waved her fingers at him in a taunting way, shooting him a glare of her own.

 

Amata’s hand on her arm brought her attention back to her and away from the angry ex-Tunnel Snake. “As you could imagine, a lot of the survivors blame you for everything. But I know it wasn’t your fault, it was my father’s.”

 

“It was kind of my dad’s fault too.” Lex smiled, leaning against the metal wall, leering over at Wally every so often. She wasn’t afraid of someone so pathetic. “I’m guessing with my leaving, your pops set more and more rules to prevent anybody from being happy, right?”

 

Amata nodded solemnly, wrapping her arms around her. “That was tolerable to an extent but..” a weary look grew on her face. “He took my son and locked him up with him. He’s holding the children against us so we can’t make a move to overthrow him.”

 

Lex’s eyes widened. That pathetic old man would stoop so low as to use an infant as a way to shield himself from an oncoming attack was the most ridiculous thing she ever heard. “That’s why it was only Freddie out there when I first came in. He had nothing to lose.” Amata nodded again, turning to look at the one mentioned. He was currently sitting on the floor, smoking a cigarette. 

 

“They won’t expect you to be back. You’ll be able to sneak past them,” Amata looked back towards Lex, a determined cold look in her eyes. “If you can, please spare my father. I know it’s a lot to ask, but if there is a chance..”

 

Lex sighed, pushing herself off of the wall. “If that bastard thinks he can use your kid as a way to protect himself he has another thing coming.” She growled. “I’ll get your son back, but I can’t promise you your dad will be fine.”

 

Amata nodded. “We recently ran out of ammo, and the few guards who still have some are protecting my father. Please.. be careful.”

 

As Lex took the information she was given and began to think of a way to approach the situation, her friend too a good long look at her friend. She had changed so much from just the year she was out in the Wasteland. Before she made to leave again once she was satisfied with her plan to take back the children, she looked around the room, her eyes showing just a hint of worry. “Butch is fine..” Amata reassured her, her friend flinching to look at her. “He’s injured but he’s resting right now.”

 

That seemed to relieve her friend of any anxiety she had before she left the room to finish what she came back for. 

 

\---

 

The road towards her destination seemed simple enough. The Overseer had, in his sudden state of panic at spotting her appear from a hallway near his office, sent all of his man power to take Lex down. Similar as to how the Overseer reacted, the security guards looked as if they had just seen a ghost and wasted most of their ammo in trying to shoot her down. One by one, they tossed away their weapons, the few that were spared ran to the rebels side, leaving just Officer Mack refusing to back down, ultimately leaving Lex no choice but to gun him down. 

 

No sense of remorse was given at the sight of the dead body, Lex casually stepping over it to get to the Overseer. 

 

The door opened to the office before she even touched it, coming face to face with the old man holding his grandson. The sight only made Lex angrier. Another child cried somewhere in the office, hidden from her view. 

 

Amata’s son was crying, obviously uncomfortable with the way the old man was  holding him. The Overseer didn’t seem fazed by the noise, doing nothing to help placate the child. “What have you come back for?” He said, glaring at Lex. “Do you really think you have a better way of keeping this Vault safe?”

 

“Put the child down.” Lex asked calmly. “I’ve come back to fix what I messed up. Amata asked for me.”

 

The Overseer’s face reddened in his anger, the child in his arms now screaming. “Fix?! You cannot claim to want to fix what you’ve destroyed!” 

 

“You’re delusional.” Lex spat, her hand reaching for her pistol. “You’re the one to destroy what free will we had long before I escaped.” 

 

The old man took her words into consideration, his eyes now falling to the crying face of his grandson. The infant was whimpering now, his voice rough from his crying. “They need to be protected. All of them.” He sighed. His finger traced along the curve of the child’s cheeks. The infant pushed the finger away with his small hands, his face scrunching in displeasure. “Amata is pregnant.. I can’t.. I can’t let the Outside take her away from this beautiful creation.”

 

It seemed the man was more far gone than she thought, wondering if any tries in convincing would even work now. “There are doctors out there that are willing to help. In here, you don’t have anybody!” Lex tried to reason with him, finding his calm demeanor unsettling. He had changed from angry to calm in an instant, which was always a warning sign of bad things to come. 

 

“Do you want your daughter to die?!”

 

It took what felt like a second for the anger from before to return to Alphonse’s face, his hand reaching for his gun. “You will not take them from me!” He screamed.

 

Lex’s hand pulled at the trigger before the other’s gun was unsheathed. While the man doubled over in anguish, Lex caught the child, cradling it in her arms.

 

It was over.

 

\---

 

When Lex appeared from behind the door to the rebels’ base, Amata broke down crying at the sight of her son. She thanked her friend, hugging her before her son began to cry again. A shaking Christine approached Lex with trembling arms, taking the other child from her hold. 

 

It suddenly dawned on her that it was Janice and Stevie’s child, the one that survived. Christine must have been the one assigned to look after him now that the elders of the group where no longer with them, nor was Stevie. She, in the end, became a mother.

 

Watching families be reunited once again tugged at Lex’s heartstrings, her mind begining to wander and subconsciously search for her husband. It was only when she spotted Amata with her son in her arms that she realized she was waiting for her to show her where Butch was.

 

In a blood soaked room from what appeared to be a surgery gone wrong, Butch and his mother, along with a few other injured residents, slept on reclaimed mattresses and chairs.

 

The Serpent King looked so much older than she remembered him. Seeing her friend relax at the sight of her husband, Amata stepped out, closing the door behind her in order to give her childhood friend some time alone. 

 

From what Amata told her, during the riots Butch had been taken early in the morning. He was second in command, Amata being the leader of the rebellion against her father. Amata sounded proud to have him as second in command, despite how reckless he was when defending the rebels and doing missions.  _ Maybe that’s why.. _ Lex thought, her fingers running through his sweaty, undone hair.  _ The Overseer’s goons didn’t know what to expect. _

 

A wave of pride grew in her chest, a smile tugging at her lips.  _ Oh, Butch.. _

 

There were bruises underneath his eyes, and a large gash on his lip and the side of his head. Bandages were wrapped all around his torso as well. The security must have beat him to get information. Amata had reassured her he hadn’t said anything to bring harm to their group.

 

“He was really upset when you were gone.” Lex flinched away from Butch at the sudden voice, instinct causing her to reach for her gun. Ellen sat up in her chair next to her son, adjusting the blanket wrapped around her. “When he found you and your dad got out, he tried getting out himself. He got an earfull from Ms. Almodovar there.” She shook her head at the memory.

 

“When did you hear..?” Lex whispered, sitting by the bed. She figured the Overseer told them they had been killed during the breakout of Radroaches.

 

Ellen snorted. “About 2 months before these riots started. Butchie was furious.. that’s when he agreed with Almodovar’s little girl to join her. Not like he hadn’t already been revolting before, though.”

 

Lex nodded, glancing between the mother and her son. “It feels weird being back here after a year. Everything changed completely.”  _ Including Butch. _

 

Ellen sat upright, adjusting the blanket even more. “You know, there were three times in my life I’ve ever seen my Butchie scared nervous.”

 

Lex avoided eye contact, making a small noise. She didn’t exactly feel like listening to Ellen DeLoria’s ramblings, but she figured she would humor her before she left again. Lex knew not many liked her anymore, after the Overseer basically threw both her and her father under the bus and painted them as traitors who wanted to harm the Vault. Ellen, however, was always neutral about the Valentino family. 

 

“The first time was when he got into my liquor cabinet and broke a bottle.”

 

“Second was when you two were married.” That wasn’t surprising. They both were scared that day, but both handled the fear differently. She remembered how he grew quiet around her the first month, something she always had found odd, before he returned to his old sarcastic, annoying self.

 

“Third was when you disappeared, the day you were gushing blood.”

 

Lex dropped her gaze, picturing a scared Butch. She was barely conscious when Butch carried her to the clinic. His hands were covered in her blood and his eyes stared straight ahead, determined to get her fixed. He had not looked scared then.

 

There was a memory, a short barely there one, of when she was dozing off in the clinic. Butch was holding her hand with both of his. His brow was curved upwards in worry. That had been one of the last things she remembered before she had to leave him behind in the Vault.

 

“Why are you telling me this?” Lex whispered, retracting her hands from Butch.

 

“Because once he wakes up and realizes you came back to fix the mess you made, he’s going to go out looking for you.”

 

\---

 

The door slid shut behind Lex when she made her way back out the entrance. A sense of anxiety floated around her as she began her trip back into the Wasteland, Ellen Deloria’s words resonating in her thoughts.

 

_ “You can tell him I was here and he doesn’t have to fight anymore. Amata agreed to let residents come and go as they please.” _

 

The old woman had just nodded, listening as Lex whispered something else to her. Much more private that only few in the wasteland knew about.

  
_ Be careful. And take care of him.  _ Were Ellen’s parting words before she settled back into her seat to sleep.


	6. Trails pt. 1

He loved her. He loved her, and that was reason enough for him to leave as soon as he woke up.

 

His mother was still asleep in the chair next to him, and the lights in the Vault were all dimmed. Had they won? Was the rebellion finally over?

 

He made to get up, almost slipping when his hand used a holotape as leverage. The pain from his sides almost made him toss the disc against the wall angrily until very familiar handwriting on the small thing caught his attention. The short quick strokes of the lettering could only belong to one person: Lex.

 

She came back. That's why the Vault seemed eerily peaceful now, when before any of the rebels would be high strung and alert. She came back to help but must have left soon after. It pissed him off that she didn’t wait for him to wake up. It pissed him off that she didn’t try to wake him up, so he could go with her. He didn’t want to hear what was even recorded on the damn holotape with how frustrated and angry he was at her. All he wanted to do was get out of the Vault and find her. 

 

He knew he would end up listening to the disc later. Right now, though, he had to go. 

 

Pain flared all over his torso when he stood, making breathing difficult. The sound of him catching his breath somehow caused his mother to wake up, the woman blinking quickly before realizing her son was awake. “Butch! You’re awake!” 

 

Butch groaned, straightening his back to help him breath. “Hey Ma..” his voice was strained from the pain and his ragged breathing. “I’m assuming we won? Since everyone is getting some shut eye.”

 

His mother nodded, beginning to fret over her son’s injuries. When she caught sight of the disc in his hand, she spoke up. “You just missed her. I’m sorry Butchie--”

 

“I’m gonna go find her, Ma.” 

 

“I know.” A brief look of sadness passed the older woman’s face. “Amata let us know that the Vault will be opened for trading and anything else. This is your chance Butch.”

 

He nodded to his mother, watching as she picked up an old duffel bag.  _ Lex’s  _ old duffle bag. “I don’t want to let you go without some supplies at least. I snagged a pistol and ammo when nobody was looking..” her voice shook as she handed it over to Butch, placing the strap in his hands. Her old wrinkled hand lingered over his for a few seconds before she spoke up again. “Protect your family Butch.”

 

“Ma..”

 

Ellen Deloria shook her head as she let go of her son. Tears were evident in her glossy eyes but she quickly wiped them away. After a quick hug Butch walked out of the room, eyes set on the quickest way to the Vault entrance. 

 

It was bright in the Wasteland, the light in the sky burning down at him. It felt like he was going to fall up, a wave of motion sickness pulsing up his body before he fell down from the feeling. His head spun along with his eyes, his line of sight not seeming to calm down until he closed them. The heat from the light burned at his back, sweat already beginning to pool at the spot between his shoulder blades.  

 

After a few minutes to regain his bearings, Butch stood, wavering a few times in pain before straightening. There was no time to waste, he had to find his wife.

 

When he took his first few steps onto the broken road outside of the Vault, his pip boy let out a screaming static sound before turning back off, leaving a ringing in his ears that wouldn’t go away no matter how much he rubbed his finger against his eardrum. 

 

It was terrifying. Everything was empty, there were no walls around except for the broken buildings and rocks of a prewar landscape. Any house that once stood was covered in nothing but rubble. The only sound was of the wind and whatever bugs were nearby. Hell, he considered himself lucky he didn’t see any radroaches.

 

In all honesty, Butch didn’t know what he would do if he came face to face with someone from outside, or even worse, an animal. 

 

He had to keep going. He didn’t know where but he would march on, hoping to find any kind of clue as to where his wife had gone.

 

At the thought of Lex fleeting through his mind, he began to wonder how she had felt when she first left the Vault. Had she fallen to the ground from vertigo like he had? Or had she struggled to continue walking with whatever injuries she had sustained from Vault security? 

 

The thought of a bleeding Lex made Butch stop in his tracks.

 

His hands shook at the image his brain made. That image was a constant in his darkest days and nightmares, the bloody figure of his wife always crying out to him as he lay helplessly in bed unable to move. 

 

No.

 

He couldn’t think like that.

 

He knew that image was no longer true, Lex had saved the Vault and proved she was alive! Even if he hadn’t seen her, the other Vault dwellers had proof of her strength and resolve.

 

God he missed her.

 

But a part of him was angry at her. 

 

She left him behind. Again.

 

When he had struggled to prove his loyalty to her when they had gotten married, he thought he had at least gained some of her trust. Maybe it wasn’t like that after all in her mind. Maybe she didn’t see how strong he was in the end, despite all they’d been through. 

 

If she didn’t see it, then he would show her.

 

With a strengthened resolve, Butch pulled the duffle bag higher onto his shoulders and puffed his chest out in determination.

 

Nothing would stop him on his search for Lex. 

 

The areas around the Vault painted a gruesome story of whatever befell the life before the bombs. There looked to be no viable house standing from before no matter how far he walked. The few buildings left  standing were boarded up or far away unknown buildings. Butch continued walking, hesitant to enter anything he came across. He wasn’t ready to engage in combat if he were to encounter anything within the ruins. 

 

It wasn’t until he made it to a standing, unboarded PreWar building with more than two walls still intact, did Butch choose to investigate. It was worth a shot, considering there were marks of paint along the walls belonging to past survivors using the building as refuge from the wastes or something else. 

 

The old metal doors creaked as he opened them to step inside, the noise resonating and bouncing off crumbling walls.

 

Inside, it was noticeable just how much of a ruin the building actually was. Interior walls were missing, large holes that led outside obvious of damage from the war. Old desks were piled high near a set of stairs, a gathering of burnt wood making it obvious of past residency. 

 

Butch walked towards the old campfire, eyeballing the desks and walls for any sign of his wife being there.  _ She was a nerd. If this was a school she could have been here. _

 

Aside from the aged bullet holes in the old wooden desks, there were no telling signs of Lex. Butch sighed, placing down the duffel bag close to the fire pit. He wondered if he had anything inside the bag that would help him to start a fire, the fading light coming from the hole in the side of the building being enough proof of night approaching. 

 

As he dug around within the bag, the sound of a door shutting brought Butch to attention, his hand fixing around the handle of a gun, quickly pulling it out as a shadow appeared from around a corner. 

 

“Don’t fucking move!” 

 

“Whoa-- Hey! Easy, bud.”

 

An old man and woman raised their hands at the sight of a gun, Butch waving it between the two. 

 

Seeing as how Butch didn’t seem to hesitate, the old man spoke up, not once lowering his hands or breaking eye contact.

 

“My friend and I are just looking for a roof over our heads for the night. We usually bunk out here when it’s empty. We didn’t see a fire so..” He began to waver when Butch didn’t lower his gun. The old woman nudged her friend, both nodding to each other. “We’d be willing to share food for bunk. Just got a big purchase from a trader. Enough for three.”

 

Butch’s thoughts were running a mile a minute, going over the offer in his head. His recent experience in the Vault made him aware that he couldn’t trust anybody, not even the elderly. But he did need food, chiding himself at not grabbing his stash of junk food before leaving. 

 

“Fine.” he sighed after taking some time to think it over, both pair of elderly eyes shining at the agreement. Suddenly their faces were graced with wrinkly smiles, both setting down their makeshift bags around the unlit campfire. He wouldn’t take his eyes off of them for a second, the paranoia from the Vault still in full throttle.

 

Butch sat on the stairs, watching as the two old people worked on setting the area around them with their belongings, the old man taking out box after box of what looked like roughed up snacks while the woman started a fire with one strike. She quickly placed more of the old desk wood around the growing fire, making sure to keep the flames from being smothered in. 

 

For elderly, the two sure moved fast and precise. It was only at a quick shine that Butch didn’t have to wonder if they were armed or not. At the quick sight of the gun, he tightened his grip on his hidden pistol, keeping it concealed under his bag.

 

“Here’s your share, boyo.” The old man tossed a metallic case and two small boxes at Butch, the younger male catching half of them and picking up the one that fell. The metal packaging was decently preserved, a stamp of whatever company it originated from letting him know it was potted meat of some sort. The other boxes were of repackaged food, previously opened and reused with whatever Wastelanders called food. 

 

Night fell, allowing the fire to create a nice warm ambiance within the corner of the old building. The pair began to eat quietly together, producing two small glasses and a dirty bottle of something from their bag. They had made a small table from broken wall chunks and a plank of wood, placing their meal on it. The two faced each other as they ate, now and then glancing towards their third bunkmate for the night. The old woman especially kept an eye on Butch and on his left arm, it being obvious she was staring at his Pipboy. 

 

With a sigh, the old man turned to Butch. “My friend is wonderin’ if your hand computer can get a radio signal.” He pointed a finger towards the thing in question. 

 

“It’s called a Pipboy, old man.” Butch snapped back.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Doesn’t change what it is.” He huffed, taking a bite of what looked like a sandwich. The grey meat in between the bread made a god awful squishing noise.

 

Hiding his grimace, Butch switched through the closest radio stations, trying to figure out how to get a signal when all he could hear was a voice drowned out by static on whatever he connected to. The old woman turned back to her food, looking a little sadder when no signal was able to get through. Her friend patted her shoulder.

 

“It’s just the signal. It’s the same wherever we go, hon. Not much we could do.” 

 

As the two continued with their meal in silence, Butch mulled over in thought. The two seemed to be wanderers. If he got on their good sides, maybe they could give him some information on the location of his wife if they had come across her in their travels.

 

He quickly dug through his pocket, feeling for the small holotape he knew he had. It was one of the few things he had left that belonged to Lex. Two holotapes clattered against old cement floor, Butch picking both up. One was the holotape filled with recorded music, the other was the one Lex had left him before she left the Vault again.

 

He had almost forgotten about it, in his frustration having just stuffed it into his pocket to listen to later. 

 

Without him realizing, the old woman had gotten closer, grey eyes staring down at the holotapes Butch had in his hands. He flinched back in surprise at the closeness, hand fumbling for his gun before realizing he had already holstered it earlier, causing the old man to laugh out a hearty chuckle.

 

“Sorry about that. My friend can be a little enthusiastic about music. She won’t hurt ya.” He apologized, sitting closer to the fire now that he was done eating. There were two sleeping bags laid out around the fire, Butch not having realized when they had been set up. The woman patiently waited on Butch, fidgeting with a string from her knit gloves as she watched him insert the holotape to his Pipboy. 

 

After a second for the holotape to rewind to the beginning, soft music began to play, the light cords of a guitar filling the night air. A relaxed smile graced the elderly woman’s face, beginning to hum along to the tune as she made her way next to her companion.

 

“Haven’t heard music like that in years.. hell, decades even.” The old man sighed wistfully, arm being shaken in agreement by his friend. “Well, thank you for humoring two old people, er..”

 

“Butch.” 

 

“Butch. I’m Dean, this is Loris. Thank you for making this the nicest night we’ve had in awhile.”

 

Butch nodded, scratching at the back of his head awkwardly. He really wanted to ask for information, but seeing as how the old lady was beginning to dance in her seat, he began to wonder if they would be of any help at all. The old man was talking to his quiet friend, earning enthusiastic nods and smiles. 

 

“Y’know, it’s been years since we’d last run into you Vault Dweller types. Say about, 20 years or so?” The old man began, turning to his friend in thought. “What was that young man’s name? Debrio? Del Rio? Something with a Del--”

 

“That’s real interesting, pops, but I gotta ask ya something.” Butch interrupted, pressing the pause button on his PipBoy. The music stopped with a click, causing the old woman to turn her attention to Butch.

 

“Alright, shoot.”

 

With minor hesitation, Butch began.

 

“I’m looking for my wife. Bright hazel eyes. Long dark hair, usually tied up in a bun. Should have a PipBoy just like mine. Have you seen her?” 

 

The two elderly looked at each other, eyes squinting in thought. After a couple of seconds the old man shook his head. “Can’t say I have. Loris?” 

 

The old woman continued deep in thought, a withered, half of a finger tapping against her chin. Dean sighed, shaking his head.

 

“It’s gonna take her a minute. She’s seen more people than I have. Her being a sniper and all.”

 

_ Sniper? _ A feeling of uneasiness crawled down Butch’s spine, causing him to move in his seat. He’d heard from Lex whenever she would finish a new Pre War book, of soldiers with pinpoint accuracy. They were given the title of Sniper, or something. 

 

“Yeup. Whenever we bunker down, either by ourselves or in a settlement, she would always be on watch in a crows nest. Even if folk didn’t wander too close, she’d be able to recognize them again.”

 

While trying to understand the terms the old man was using, a sharp shriek broke the silence, the party of three turning to what could have caused the noise; the two scavengers turning to a small, flimsy radio hanging from their pack, and Butch to his PipBoy. As the group checked what sounded to be a radio signal, a voice came to life through their speakers, voice fresh and smooth.

 

A long howl played through the radio’s speakers, followed soon by a laugh. “Oh, can you hear me Wasteland? Crisp words like honey gracing your ears? That’s right, baby, Three Dog’s back online!”

 

At the name the old woman lit up like a lightbulb, eyes shining happily. She began to shake the arm of her friend again, Dean smiling along with her.

 

“It was torture knowing y'all couldn’t hear my stories, my woes, ohh, not even the news! But now.. now you can. All thanks to the wandering Mercenary known as The Lone Wanderer..”

 

_ Lone Wanderer? _

 

As the radio dj began to prattle on about recent events, the two elderly people began to relax at the sound of his voice.

 

“It’s good to have you back Three Dog.” 

 

Loris nodded enthusiastically along with her friend, showing agreement in opinions of the DJ. 

 

Butch didn’t understand what made the radio jockey so special that the two scavengers were so smitten over him. He was about to bring the conversation back to Loris’ attention, when Three Dog’s voice rose up once again.

 

“And now a special treat. People of the Capital Wasteland, not only did this lovely gal bring your one and only back online, but she got us a present, something we haven’t had in years. I’ll let you guys have a listen.”

 

The sound of a prewar guitar began to play, the sound as crisp as a recording. 

 

The tune danced through the air with high energy, as was the genre that was rock n’ roll. 

 

Almost at the middle of the song playing, Loris snapped upright, mouth wide open but a silent sound coming out as she tried to speak what she wanted to say.

 

The gasping wails frightened Butch, hand reaching closer to his gun the more she flailed and moaned. At a tentative glance, Dean smiled apologetically.

 

“She can’t talk, try as she might. Went under the knife a few years back to get rid of a pesky thing in her throat she was born with. Quack of a doctor sliced all of her voice box at the same time.” The old man explained, hands grabbing at his friend to try to settle her down. Hushed coos and whispers did hardly nothing other than annoy Loris more, her frustrated sighing and flailing and pointing to the beat up radio they had continuing until her friend finally realized she was trying to tell him something important.

 

A dawning look of realization grew on Dean’s face as a second new song began to play, Billie Holiday’s beautiful voice filling the air. 

 

“What did ya say yer wife’s name was again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God i hate updating fics on my phone. Sorry for this chapter being so short I can only select so much from the doc i write in on my phone before it starts glitching out OTL the second part of this chapter will be up soon hopefully just gotta work some more bits in so it will be longer! Thanks for sticking by me so far!!


	7. Trails pt. 2

A dirt covered hand wiped at a sweating brow, Butch’s blue eyes looking up at the damned sun rays burning at this skin. He only looked away once he felt the light begin to burn at his reticles, rubbing over his eyelids with the back of his wrist where there was no dirt.

He and his new friends from the night before had begun their journey at day break, the elderly sniper having shaken Butch so hard he had landed on the floor face down before waking up. Now, as they were walking to their destination, a settlement called Rivet City, she trailed a good distance behind Butch, keeping an eye on their six.

The sniper’s friend grumbled a few feet ahead of them, shot gun in hand.

When he had asked for a name to his younger acquaintance's wife, he would never had guessed it would be the Lone Wanderer whom he was married to. 

Butch, of course, didn’t know the reasoning to why he became so upset at finding out he was married to Lex. Lex was just Lex. Annoying nerd, with badass moments. 

Maybe.. maybe she had become more of a badass in the year she was out in the wastes?

“T’ think we’re gonna be escorting the Lone Wanderer’s vaultie of a husband.. for a chance to actually find her.. humph..” Dean huffed, climbing up a crumbled building side. He peeked an eye over the top before signalling the all clear for the others to follow.

Butch, just below the old man looked down quizzically at his mute friend, receiving a shrug and shake of a head as an answer. 

“Yo old man, what’s your deal?” Butch asked the other once climbing onto even ground, dusting off any dirt stuck to the knees of his vault suit. 

Before he could continue, Butch felt his mouth gape at the sight he saw.

An old ruined ship laid at what looked like an old dock miles ahead of them from before the war. From miles away it was visible, even with old statues and wreckage covering half of it. 

A hand thumped Butch on the shoulder, Loris giving him a cheeky smile before walking past him to catch up to her friend. Dean slowed down to let Loris catch up, beginning to talk with her the way they would. 

The wastes ain’t half bad.. Butch sighed, taking one last good look at the massive freighter before picking up his pace and falling side by side with his two elderly guides.

Dean looked a bit defeated when Butch got closer, Loris having began patting him on the back before he caught up. She gave the younger one a shake of her head.

“We were just returning from Rivet City.” Dean began, adjusting his pack as he walked. “Were thinking of retiring in Megaton ‘til you showed up.” 

Butch raised an eyebrow. How was this his fault? 

“Look kid..” the old man let out a long sigh, turning to look at Butch. “your wife.. she’s an elusive thing. The only reason why we’re coming t’ Rivet City is ‘cause there’s a higher chance of running into her there.”

“A higher chance..?”

“Well..”

Before the old man could explain, a loud shot rang out, the old man’s body shuddering before he crumpled to his knees. A chorus of a battle cry rang out from in front of them somewhere within the ruined buildings, more shots ringing out and missing Butch and Loris.

Loris bent down to quickly pick up her friend from the ground where he fell, pressing her gloved hand to his injured shoulder, beckoning for Butch to follow her. 

A bullet just barely missed his head as Butch ran towards Loris and Dean, hiding behind a cement pillar riddled with bullet holes. Dean’s shoulder was covered in blood, his own withered hand now pressed against the bullet wound as Loris dug through her pack. Once she found what she was looking for she handed it to Butch before positioning her rifle on the edge of a piece of broken building, using it to steady her aim.

Butch began unwinding the roll of bandage, ducking as bullets began to whizz by in the air around them, whoever it was that was shooting finding where they were hiding. Dean cursed to himself as he pulled his wounded shoulder out from his layers of clothes, assisting Butch in winding it around the open wound. “Damned bullet cut right through me.. lucky me..” He groaned, pressing the bandage into the hole with a finger before letting Butch wind it around his shoulder again. When all the bandage was used, Dean plucked his shotgun from where it was dropped, readying it if an attacker decided to get close.

Adrenaline pumped through Butch’s veins, hand feeling for the pistol in his bag, fingers brushing past it every few seconds but unable to grab hold of it. 

Loris ducked back after using all the bullets she had in her rifle, eyes widening when she saw Butch in front of her. Her hand went to the side of his head, feeling along his skin before pulling back covered in blood.

“Just a scratch.” Croaked Dean. The joking tone of his voice wavered as he leaned himself against the side of the pillar, peeking out from behind it. “He’ll be fine Loris. Kid barely felt it.”

Despite barely feeling it, the blood began to pump the hardest it ever pumped within Butch’s veins. His hand began to shake, grip finally tightening around the pistol from his home Vault, yanking it out from the bag at last. He ducked behind another part of the ruined pillar, looking across the ruined battlefield. 

Loris shot at one of the attackers, bursting their head open with a nicely aimed shot. The others retaliated with a shotgun and a semi-auto pistol, neither remaining attackers noticing Butch’s change of location. 

Heart still pumping away and blood drying down the side of his face, Butch darted out from his hiding spot and unloaded his clip on the enemies. He looked away the last second, ears picking up over the gunfire a shrill yelp as a wet sound exploded a distance away. When he ducked back behind cover, Butch saw one of the attackers had stepped out of cover and was now laying motionless in the space between his still alive ally and Butch’s crew. A wave of pride at downing an enemy grew within Butch, his stomach turning at the sight of a dead body however. The need to barf out that mornings breakfast grew more and more as the remaining attacker stepped out of his hiding spot and charged, stepping into his dead comrade as he ran over. The corpses’ body made a disgusting pop as his friend’s boot clad foot crushed his wounded chest. Both Butch and Loris quickly ducked back to reload their weapon, Loris handing the younger a half full clip of 10mm bullets, seeing Butch struggle to find ammo within his bag.

Before the attacker could make it a meter across where they had been originally hiding, a thunderous explosion rumbled the jungle of cement buildings, the body of the last attacker exploding into hundreds of pieces. Both Loris and Butch looked on in shock at what had just happened, the sniper pressing her gaze into her scope to scan the battlefield. A strong gag ripped its way up Butch’s throat, dropping lower to the ground to begin heaving up the acid and vomit within his stomach.

The vomit bubbled with heat against the cold cement floor, Butch spitting continuously to get the sour taste out from his mouth. At the sound of Loris huffing a frustrated sigh, Butch looked up, noticing an approaching figure. 

At first he thought it was Dean, having stood up from where he was laying, only to realize Dean was aiming down his shotgun at the unknown figure. 

In that moment, an odd feeling rushed over Butch, vision focusing entirely on the approaching attacker. The face that was once covered in shadow became detailed, every smudge of dirt and blood now visible to his eye. The glint of a large blade drew his line of vision to the aggressor’s hand, letting Butch know that the target of the attacker would be Loris. The sound of Dean’s shotgun sounded muted and delayed, the attacker’s body shuddering slowly at the shock of bullet shrapnel riddling his body but not stopping him from continuing his attack. 

Faster compared to the people surrounding him were moving, Butch drew up his weapon, focusing on the attacker in general. He wanted to shoot at him, but his eyes kept focusing on different parts of his body, before finally setting his aim on the attackers head. Three shots were unloaded, two of them missing before the final bullet hit home, causing an eruption of gore and brain to explode onto the pillars around them.

Gasps of air pulled themselves into Butch’s lungs, realizing he had held his breath throughout the whole ordeal. Dean, having seen the whole thing transpire, gave the younger a thumbs up. Loris stared down Butch, tucking her rifle back into its holster on her back. She patted his shoulder before helping him up, steady hands holding his shaking body in place.

“Did you see that?” A cocky smile pulled at Butch’s lips once he was standing on his own, despite his legs still feeling like a trembling mess. Dean chuckled a laugh as he leaned higher against a pillar, hand pressed into his shoulder. 

“Yeah I saw it kid.” He said, pushing himself to stand up right. He waved off his worried friend, giving her a soft pat on the arm to show he was ok. She then turned to Butch, quickly approaching him and wiping her gloved hand against his mouth. Butch swiping at her hand like an embarrassed child to his fretting mother brought another laugh to rumble in Dean’s chest. “C’mon let’s go before any more show up.” 

The old man took the lead, deep in his thoughts to what had caused the last approaching attacker to explode the way they did. There wasn’t a sound of a missile launcher beforehand, nor were there any mines planted in their route of choice. They were too far from Rivet City to have security jump in and help them either.

Only one thing could have helped them like that. One person.

Dean turned to his companions, catching Loris’ attention once she was done searching the dead raider’s bodies for anything of use. Butch stood to the side, tucking his 10mm into his new gun harness Loris handed to him. “We should hurry to Rivet City, ‘less we miss her.”

Butch raised an eyebrow, not knowing what the old man was talking about. Loris on the other hand nodded enthusiastically, turning to Butch and shoving his shoulder. A look of dawning realization bloomed on his face after a few seconds, placing his hands on the strap of his duffel bag before hurrying forward to Dean. “She’s there? You sure of it?”

The old man nodded, small smile tugging at his lips. 

“Oh yeah.”

With a sudden surge of energy, the three began their way again toward the large ship city, stopping every now and then to prevent any raiders from catching them off guard. The destroyed city echoed distant fights, taking almost another hour before they could even reach the large white statues near the city.

The group weren’t able to make it past the first statue however, as a travelling group of raiders started a fight with giant green mutants that had a camp on the route to the settlement. Loris had grabbed the two men and dragged them behind cover just as a wayward missile rocketed towards them. The explosion of the collision from the rocket shook the building they hid under. 

A wayward piece of rubble came falling down from above the three, breaking off to a much smaller piece as it hit an edge of broken pillar, before colliding against the side of Butch’s head.

His vision swirled as heavy footsteps and guttural screams of raiders came closer and grew in muted volume. 

He heard gunfire and more screaming before he fell unconscious.


	8. Meeting

When Butch opened his eyes, he was angry. He looked for his gun, waiting for another raider or green monster to jump out from behind a wall and try to kill him. Instead he was met with Lex’s face, her hazel eyes focused on nothing. The pain bit at his shoulder and throbbing head but he ignored it, sitting on the edge of the bench he was laid across. He glared at the woman, his wife, from across the room. The holster on his thigh was empty, gun nowhere in sight. 

 

“Expecting me to react some sort of way, Lex?” Butch asked, eyebrows dipping in question. Focus returned to Lex’s gaze, hazel eyes now turning their attention to his. 

 

“The wastes can change a person.” She sighed, undoing the rope holding her hair up in a ponytail. “Long time no see, Butch.”

 

“Long time no see? That’s all you have to say?” He snapped, glaring daggers. He ached everywhere, eyes blurring as he tried to remain focused on being angry. Angry at being abandoned, angry at the fact that, a year after her disappearing, and she looked so nonchalant in reuniting. He felt a strong hurt in his chest, but he ignored it, focusing on the anger. The high tension of emotion buried the pain and ache.

Lex ran her fingers through her hair, dusting her fingers off of whatever dirt had stuck to them. Her averted gaze made Butch’s vision swirl, unable to control the year of bottled up emotions bubbling up. 

 

Butch slammed his fist on the old wood table, feeling the cracked wood pop under the force of the hit. “You left!” He yelled, glaring at her. “You left and didn’t even tell me anything! I thought you died!”

 

Lex sighed, rolling her eyes before looking back at him. “Obviously I had to have left. If I had died, don’t you think you would have found a dead body at the med bay?” She stilled, a smile threatening to change her stoic expression. After a few seconds of silence in order to regain her slipping composure, she opened her mouth again. “Butch, can you please keep your voice down? Anybody who passes by would be able to hear you. The walls are pretty thin in this town.”

 

“Does it look like I give a damn who listens?” Butch growled, his eyes squinting. He placed his head in his hands, his palms rubbing at his aching temple. He could feel wet bandages wrapped around where he was hit by rubble, feeling blood begin to seep through, painting the palm of his hand red. “I thought one of the security guards..” He began, breath hitching at the memory. He stared at his trembling hands, digging his nails into his blood covered palms as he struggled to get the rest of his words out. “I thought they might have taken you from me. Killed you somewhere. Hid your body somewhere deeper.. before burning you.. They had me convinced for months!”

 

Butch looked up when he heard her get up from her seat, watching as she walked towards him slowly. She was wringing her hands, a nervous habit she apparently wasn’t able to get rid of. She opened her mouth, only to close it again, as if she thought over what she was about to say and thought better than to say it. Her hazel eyes darted away from him, her lip now tucked in between her teeth. “I… I’m sorry Butch.” She whispered, her hand touching his bare shoulder, finally showing him some emotion he remembered her having. “I thought.. I thought if I had left without a word, with my dad, you wouldn’t be hurt. I figured you could forget about me.. When I came back, I wanted to--”

 

Butch stood then, almost knocking back the whole table and its items. Her mouth slammed shut into a tight line at his sudden action, shoulders tensing on instinct. Whatever sentence she would continue was erased from her tongue when the other grabbed hold of her upper arms, almost slamming her onto the wall behind her. She grunted in surprise, instincts making her hands push at his chest with strength she didn’t have back in the Vault. When her eyes met his she stopped, her eyebrows curving in worry. “Don’t you ever say that. I could never forget you, especially not after all we’ve been through down there! Sure, we’ve never had the perfect relationship until we were told to get hitched, but..”

 

“But..?” She breathed, trying to look into his face as he looked away.

 

“But I love you, okay?! I god damn love you! With every inch of my soul, I love you! I don’t care if you lost the baby-- or- or if you don’t want to have any after what happened! All I know is that--”

 

“Butch, your voice, please lower it a little--!”

 

“I never want you to leave me again!”

 

A shrill cry echoed in the house, Lex stiffening in Butch’s loosening hold. Her eyes widened as she looked from him to her upper right where another cry began. “What is..” Before Butch could react, Lex ripped herself from his arms, speeding it up the stairs as something began to cry.

 

Butch was frozen in place, left dumbstruck as he heard small whimpers begin to quiet down. Lex’s voice made shushing sounds, a robot voice offering her a bottle.  He heard her dismiss the helper robot, watching as the beat up and naked Mr. Handy made its way down the steps before going into the kitchen. It excused itself in the robotic British accent all Mr. Handy’s had as it made itself busy in the adjacent room.

 

A few minutes later Lex came back down, her hands wringing her fingers tight.

 

“There’s someone you should meet.” Her soft voice spoke, one of her hands reaching towards him. He was still frozen in place, his blue eyes slowly looking down towards her hand. 

 

He took it, letting her lead him up the stairs. He noticed the walls had been redone, and some parts were still being remodeled into something. A bigger room probably. He stepped into what he assumed was her room at the moment, a haphazardly placed mattress on an old, breaking wooden frame kept on the furthest wall from the doorway. 

 

Small coos came from next to the bed, where a medium sized crate filled to the brim with blankets lay on the floor. Lex let go of his hand then, looking at him once before turning to the crate and picking something up from inside of it. He felt his knees begin to buckle when she turned around, arms full of.. something. Some _ one _ .

 

“His name is Donovan.” She spoke quietly, slowly turning to face him. Her face was hidden by her hair, her attention completely taken by the child she held in her hands. “Donno, this is your dad..”

 

Dad.

 

Butch Deloria was a dad.

 

He had a son.

 

One he thought he lost a long time ago. One he thought he lost along with his wife. The one he guiltily felt little to no sorrow for losing when his wife was in pain. Yet there he was, as healthy as the other babies born in the Vault.

 

He was beautiful. 

 

“Butch?” Her worried tone brought him back to reality, realizing just how close she was to him now. She was holding the child, Donovan, against her chest, one hand securing his bottom and the other holding the back of his head.

 

Her worried hazel eyes looked into his. Before he was able to say anything, Donovan turned his head, looking curiously up at him.

 

He was so beautiful. The most beautiful thing he ever saw.

 

The boy had the same colored eyes as his mother, the same tan skin all three shared as well as the same hair color. There was a small birthmark on his jaw, with a beauty mark right below it close to his chin. On his right hand just below his knuckles was a gnarled scar that ended on a missing pinky and ring finger, a question he would ask Lex about later.

 

Again, Lex’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “Butch, why are you crying? Please don’t cry..”

 

Her hand, now riddled with scars, wiped away at the tears on his face, causing him to lean in to the touch. A small smile was on her face, tears in the corners of her eyes. 

 

“Can..” He took in a breath. “Can I hold him?” His voice shook, watching as tears spilled from his wife’s face. She nodded, meeting him on his spot on the floor before carefully handing him their child. 

 

“Be careful with his head.. there.” She moved his hands to properly hold their son, the warmth from her hands soothing his anxiety. “Say hi, Donny.”

 

The baby gurgled, hazel eyes looking from his mother to his father, his small mouth widening in a toothless smile. Both Butch and Lex laughed, earning a happy squeal from the child. “I think he likes me.” Butch chuckled, sniffing to help clear his running nose. Lex leaned in closer, resting her head on Butch’s shoulder. “How old is he?” 

 

“He will be a year and three months.” 

 

She could see the gears begin to turn inside of his head, his mouth moving as he counted how long ago they were both in the Vault together. “So that means.. you didn’t lose him?” Butch turned with wide eyes to Lex. She nodded, pushing off of him gently. A blush spread from the top of her forehead to the apples of her cheeks. 

 

“So..” Lex began awkwardly, taking a moment to clear her throat as if it would make her talking about that past experience any easier.”when you left the clinic the day that..” She looked away, her hands now lying flat on her lap to hide the sweat that was accumulating there. “ _ that _ happened. My dad explained to me later, once we were out of the Vault, that I have a… condition.”

 

“What, that you’re a nerd? We all knew that already.” He joked back, the old cocky grin back on his face, all weeping emotion from before now completely gone. Apparently, all old baggage of emotion now out of the way allowed for the ‘be a jerk when uncomfortable or around Lex’ state of mind to come crashing back. The remark and attempt at humor caused to Lex roll her eyes, the embarrassment from before completely gone.

 

“Uterus Didelphys.” She spoke bluntly. “I have two uteruses.”

 

A look of horror slowly grew on Butch’s face, his face paling. “I got you double pregnant?” He whispered.

 

She nodded, barely containing her laughter at the other’s reaction. “Dad.. said that it was normal for one with that condition to bleed as much as I did during a miscarriage. I guess one is bigger than the other? Something like that.”

 

Butch visibly shuddered, Donovan slapping his chubby hands against his face to get his attention. The scar on his small hand caught Butch’s attention again, his thumb tracing over the collection of healed skin. Before he could ask Lex about it, there was a knock at the door downstairs, drawing her attention away from her two boys. She quickly descended the stairs to answer, giving her son the once over and making sure her husband held the baby correctly before leaving their side. 

 

“What have you been through kid?” Butch asked Donovan, who just looked up at him with wide eyes. Some dribble pooled out of his small mouth, Butch watching in fascination as it slowly elongated toward his chest before ascending back up a few centimeters. 

 

“Butch, I’m going to head out for a bit to run some errands. Can you stay here with Donovan until I come back?” Lex peeked her head in from the doorway, already zipping up a leather jacket and strapping on shoulder guards. 

 

Panic set in Butch’s chest at her words. “Where are you going?” he asked, his words tumbling out quickly. Lex turned to look at him again, her hands paused in her hair as she meant to tie it up. She could see the anxiety the other was trying so hard to hide. A pang of guilt hit her in her chest like a bullet. The poor man experienced the Wasteland for the first time ever, almost died and is still recovering from critical injuries, reunited with his wife and child who he presumed dead and now she was leaving to run an errand after just half an hour of talking?

 

Suddenly a new, high pitched and semi-squeaky voice introduced herself too enthusiastically. “Oh my gosh! You must be him!! Oh, I’ve heard so much about you!”

 

A middle aged woman, with red hair tied into a sloppy bun pushed herself passed Lex and forced herself into the half finished room, wide smile and wide bright eyes throwing Butch for a loop.

 

“U-uh… hi?”

 

Lex sighed a half hearted laugh. “Butch, this is Moira. Moira, my husband.” A blush began to spread when the redhead stepped a bit too close to the man and began to inspect him. “She’s a shopkeeper. And a good friend of mine.”

 

“Ooh, your injuries look as bad as Lex had said! Gosh, she was all in a tizzy when she told me she needed forceps and staples to close you up! Your friends wouldn’t let her work so she shoved them onto me, y’know! Now they’re banging away at my store thinking you’re in there when your wifey just wanted you all to yourself! Hey! You should go talk to them and tell them you’re alri--”

 

Lex interrupted her before she continued to embarrass her. “So what was it that you had for me again, Moira?” 

 

The store clerk ripped her attention away from Butch, her attention now completely on Lex. “Oh! A woman came by earlier asking for help in looking for her daughter! Poor thing ran away from home!” She shook her head at the thought. 

 

“Leave the details on my job board and I’ll get to it once he’s done healing. Thanks Moira.” Lex sighed, taking off the jacket. If it was a retrieval job it would take longer than a few hours, thinking better to leave it for another time. A time when she could have someone she could depend on backing her up as well as more supplies for an elongated trip to wherever the job would take her.

 

As Moira gave her a thumbs up in understanding, the door opened again, heavy pants of breath and the sound of something metallic jingling entering the house. Donovan squealed in Butch’s hands, the baby beginning to babble an incomprehensible word over and over again.

 

“Ooh, looks like Charon and your puppy are home!” 

 

Before Butch could begin to wonder what the shopkeeper was talking about or what a Charon was, a loud explosion of noise came from the floor below before a monster rushed towards them.

The large beast charged up the stairs, sniffing Lex’s and the redhead’s leg viciously before bounding into the bedroom. At the sight of Butch the animal stopped, staring him up and down with its heterochromatic eyes. It made a warning growl at Butch, causing him to take a step back in fear. His arms around Donovan tightened just slightly, ready to duck him away if the animal leaped. Donovan squealed loudly, chubby arms reaching for the animal, inciting another warning growl to be directed towards Butch.

 

Lex’s warning voice caused the beast to calm down. “Chucho..”

 

At the sound of its apparent name, the beast's tail began to wag uncontrollably, looking up at it’s master and licking her hand before bounding back down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, a voice called out, it sounding as if the vocal cords were strained or they were being choked out. “Lex.”

 

“What is it?” The one spoken to turned to look as someone ascended the stairs, a tall figure appearing behind Lex. At the sight of the giant, a frightened scream grew in the back of Butch’s throat, a small whimper escaping him. The child in his father’s arms looked up towards the noise, slapping a small hand at the others cheek gently, as if he were reassuring the other.

 

“Oh.” The giant, peeled skinned thing spoke, face void of all features and emotions. It was so void its nose was hollowed out to just two wide holes, its internal respiratory pathway visible to anybody who passed by. Looking at it made Butch squeamish and nauseous. “So he made it.”

 

A perplexed expression overcame Lex’s face, folding her arms across her chest and turning half her body towards the giant. “You sound surprised.” She half laughed.

 

“The way you spoke of him made him seem like a wimp.”

 

A stab rammed through Butch’s chest, a feeling of being disappointed causing him to crumble away. 

 

“Well he did need multiple stitches in different areas.” Lex continued, shooting another bullet of being disappointed through Butch. “It was also really touch and go for a bit too. The damn idiot was halfway across the map when I ran into him already knocked unconscious.”

 

Another one.

 

Butch all but caved in on himself, beginning to feel lightheaded at everything that was happening. A giant four legged monster, another nasty looking zombie and a non stop blabbermouth of a shopkeeper was becoming too much to deal with, even more so since Lex seemed completely fine with everything. The wound on his head throbbed harshly with his strong anxiety-induced pulse rate, his arms squeezing a bit more tightly around Donovan. The baby whimpered, on the verge of crying in his father’s hold, small hands fumbling along the larger arms. 

 

The noise drew Lex back towards her family, pulling away from the conversation and noticing her husband in the beginning moments of hyperventilating. Donovan quietly began to cry, hazel eyes noticing his mother’s approaching form. 

 

“Butch.” Lex’s voice snapped Butch back to the moment, blue gaze turning to her. He saw the other two leave the room, the red headed store owner being ushered away by the taller one. A hand squeezed at his own, bringing his attention back to the one sitting next to him. 

 

Lex.

 

“You need to rest. Want me to stay with you?” Her light hazel eyes stared gently at him, her voice warm and soft. Donovan cooed in her arms, Butch not noticing when she had taken their child from him. He laughed inwardly at the complete change in her demeanor towards him compared to when he had first woken up. She could change her whole attitude in a flip of a coin. The drastic change almost scared him. “C'mon, let's move to the bed..” She offered, pulling him up single handedly with one hand. 

 

Butch fell against the old mattress, shaking hand coming up to rub at his throbbing temple. Lex stayed at the side of the bed, kneeling on the floor while trying to calm their whimpering child with small comforting coos. Despite how odd it was to hear his son continue to cry quietly, voice never elevating to higher pitches like Amata's son did every day, the cries began to become a comfort, focusing on the sound to ignore the intrusive thoughts trying to take over his mind at the moment. Donovan rubbed at his eyes, Lex moving his uninjured hand away from his face, noticing small scratch marks alongside his small nose. With his mother preventing him from scratching his face off, Donovan turned to the bed his father was seated at, his small arms pulling him up and away from his mother's hold.

 

Now with her son enjoying his new adventure along the small mattress, Lex turned her attention to her husband, small smile pulling at her lips. Butch's breathing had evened out, once-racing pulse now calmed as he stared at the two in front of him. Lex rested her arms at the edge of the mattress, her hand coming closer to rub soothingly and reassuringly at Butch's leg. “Feel better?” 

 

“I don't know..” He began, drawing a concerned look from his wife. “.. how you did it to make it this far. I can barely make it one day without freaking the fuck out.” 

 

A drawn out sound similar to a combination of a sigh and an ‘Ah’ came from her mouth, eyebrows raising for a brief moment in understanding. 

 

Lex hopped onto the other side of Butch in the area their son had moved away from who was now exploring the mountainous hills and valleys his parents created for him. She wrapped her right arm around Butch's left, her free hand squeezing his in reassurance. 

 

“The first day I puked from walking so much while still bleeding internally with popped out stitches. I almost froze to death because I thought it was smart to sleep in a half blown up house, in the fireplace without any sort of heat source or protection from night winds. Then in the next few weeks I..” She paused, hand trembling slightly against Butch's own. “I began to suffer from Med-X withdrawal.”

 

The words left an odd feeling to grow inside of Butch, eyes staring straight ahead. He let the words hang in the air before beginning to rub a small circle on the side of Lex's hand, a sign for her to continue. 

 

“I was constantly in pain from the emergency surgery.. And finding anything to ease the pain was what kept me going in the beginning..” She said with what sounded like a disgusted sigh. Her fingers dug into Butch's skin when she spoke, disgust at her beginnings shown plain as day. 

 

“Then I stopped after a bit, after finding it harder and harder to continue my addiction. Doing it cold turkey was the worst but I went through it and came out clean. When the puking continued I thought I was going to die. On the third month outside, I finally had saved enough caps from doing small jobs here and there for Moira and escort jobs for caravans that I was able to see the doctor in Rivet city since the doctor here said I was fine.” Another pause. “That's when I found out I was pregnant..”

 

“I freaked out, thinking of what I had done. I was addicted, getting shot at during jobs, picking fights in bars and..” She sucked in a breath when her voice began to waver. “I didn't have a home, having bummed around in the common house with other degenerates without caps to their names. I wouldn't be able to provide for the baby growing in me if I continued the way I was going.” 

 

At that moment Butch turned to look, taking in the expression Lex was wearing. Her bottom lip was tucked under her teeth, being chewed on as she was thinking about her past. About how she came to be. Her hazel eyes stared straight ahead with a distant haze glossed over them, memories playing in her head. 

 

“Then Charon came along. He's the, uh, tall ghoul guy who thought you would die before we met again.” She laughed after snapping out of her entranced state. “The story with him is long and complicated. It'd be better if he told you about how we came along. I don't like talking about it. Too boring.” 

 

Butch nodded, looking down at their intertwined fingers. Nothing he went through could compare to what she went through. Even in the Vault she experienced worse. Combining the two experiences together would give her years of experience and damage over him. She had no reason to believe they would end up back to see each other. Yet they still ended up together. After everything. 

 

The small baby slapped his small hands at his mother’s Pipboy, having crawled over the two again for the nth time, opening his mouth open and closed, words tumbling out in baby speech. “Ba.. baba.”

 

Lex snorted a laugh. “The radio is on downstairs, kiddo.” The baby slapped his hands on the pipboy again, yawning this time the words.

 

“Hmm.. you want to hear grandma huh?” 

 

Butch turned his attention to the child being placed in his hold, watching Lex as she dug around the side of her bed. With a holotape now in her hand, she inserted it into her Pipboy, earning an excited squeal from Donovan as the tape began to play. A woman with a warm voice began to talk, reciting what sounded like data. The voice reminded her of how Lex would sound like when she was tired and finishing up work back in the Vault. Whoever was talking must have been very tired at the time of the recording. 

 

“Wait. Grandma?”

 

Lex smiled, resting her head on Butch's shoulder. Donovan yawned, head lolling to the side as he began to fall asleep in his father's arms.

 

“There's a lot I can't wait to show you, my love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *EXCITEMENT* I'm back!!! Sorry for the long wait.. There was so much I had to re-edit since this was the first bit I ever wrote for this series. It was the inspiration I got while working my first job about two years ago.. And now I can't believe I've made it this far with this story.. It feels so weird making it back to the beginning to where my whole fallout obsession started. With a dumb little idea I got while bored at work. And I'm honestly thankful to all who decided to read my fic, like it and even comment on it! A weird lil full circle sort of thing. Thank you and I hope you all continue reading where I take this lil story! ❤


	9. Renewed Story

Butch woke the next morning to an odd smell. It was reminiscent of the smell of old Vault-Tec sponsored coffee, the kind he would watch his mother make in the morning when he was a kid. The smell he was smelling now, however, smelled more on the burnt side, closer to burning pork and beans than coffee. The repulsive smell made him get up from where he slept, noticing only Donovan was sleeping soundly next to him. Not wanting to wake the child just yet, he moved the smaller boy back into his faux-crib, watching as the child adjusted himself within the crate. With a small sigh, Donovan continued sleeping, small thumb pushing ever so slightly into his mouth, small lips wrapping around the digit and sucking instinctively like an unweaned child would.

 

Resisting the adorable sight, Butch pushed himself up from where he was crouched on the floor and began to descend down the metal stairs, peeking into the kitchen he saw at a glance when he arrived the day before.

 

Lex happily sang to an unknown tune, using a bent spatula to scramble something green and smelling oddly reminiscent of eggs in a pan. Before she could notice, Butch sneakily wrapped his arms around his wife's waist, earning a surprised noise from her as he kissed her behind her ear. It was followed by an appreciative hum, Butch continuing to plant kisses along every piece of available skin he was presented, as well as touch every inch with the palm of his hand, sneakily sliding under the shirt Lex wore.

 

“Well.. Good morning to you too, dear husband.” Lex chuckled, removing the sizzling pan of scrambled green and moving it to the table behind them. There, three plates were set and waited to be used, Lex quickly and evenly cutting up the breakfast she made before placing them on each plate. The pan with the remaining eggs was put in the middle of the table next to a pot. The smell Butch had woken up to sat next to the pan in the steaming and dented container.

 

It was a perfect, if not slightly miscolored and odd smelling breakfast.

 

“Last time you cooked I got food poisoning.” 

 

Lex slapped Butch on the arm. 

 

“I can't cook that dried up stuff from the Vault. These are all made with fresh ingredients.” 

 

Just what exactly was considered fresh in the Wasteland, Butch didn't know or want to think about. For all he knew, Lex could have gotten the egg things from some.. Radioactive bear. 

 

He poked at the jiggly scrambled food once he sat down at the table, one eyebrow raising in suspicion. “Are you sure this is safe to eat?”

 

His question earned a laugh from Lex, currently pouring a dark liquid into her cracked mug. It smelled hellishly like burnt beans. “I survived off of this crap for months. It’s fine.” She said, sliding her mug over to him, the steam from the drink tempting him. 

 

Last bit of resistance slipping, Butch took the cup and sipped, the drink messing with his tastebuds before offering it's caffein-flavored goodness. It really was just a different type of coffee. The eggs were still suspicious though, even more so considering Lex hadn't started eating yet. She had stood up, searching for something in her cluttered shelf before turning back around with a bottle in hand.

 

“Want some whiskey? I didn't give you any meds for pain so you should be fine to have some.” She winked coyly, pouring some into her own cup of wasteland coffee before offering the alcohol to him.

 

Butch happily nodded, watching in excitement as the amber liquid mixed in with his morning drink. He quickly drank some, moaning at the feeling of alcohol flowing down his throat. His noise of appreciation earned a happy smile from Lex, said smile quickly disappearing as a noise at the entrance caused both to turn to look at the door as it creaked open. 

 

Charon walked in, an annoyed look on his disfigured face, followed by two squabbling people right behind him. The gruff male voice followed by quiet but still as frustrated sound of huffs and sighs allowed Butch to know who exactly the ghoul had brought with him.

 

“Gramps! Loris!” Butch exclaimed in surprise as the two elderly, at the sight of him, charged in to get a better look at him. Loris’ hands felt along the younger's face worried eyes searching for any sign of injury. From the corner of his eye, Butch could see Dean and Lex staring each other down, both with a glower in their eye.

 

“So you're her, huh?” Dean began, arms crossed across his chest. Lex returned his stare with a glare, one hand under her chin the other on her lap.

 

“I'm his wife.” She rebuked, motioning to an empty chair at the table. “Will you be having breakfast with us, or will you be leaving?”

 

Both Loris and Butch were now staring at the two, the tension in the air making them both on edge and worried. Butch had no idea why the two were acting hostile towards each other, why Lex was so defensive in saying anything else aside from her being a welcoming wife. Dean let out a huff before grabbing a chair and sitting down, tension lowering just slightly. Loris was given a chair by Charon, nodding her thanks before sitting down in between Dean and Lex. She was offered a smile from Lex, a mutual understanding passing between the two. Charon brought in two more plates, Lex taking them without breaking eye contact with Dean as she served the rest of the eggs to the two guests. 

 

“Coffee?” 

 

“Please.”

 

Butch took a long sip of his own boozy drink, eyes flicking back and forth between the two. Charon didn't seem to be paying close attention, already taking his plate and eating the wet eggs from it. Loris looked awkward seated between the two, small withered hand holding her fork and taking small bites from the breakfast she was given. The older woman looked like she had something to say, but due to her muteness was unable to say it. She kept glancing towards her companion, giving him a hidden glare and mouthing words Butch couldn't quite read. When she would turn back towards Lex, Lex would give her a genuine smile before all emotion would disappear from her face and returned to scowling at Dean. 

 

Dean on the other hand began to eat, pouring himself some coffee into the unused mug that most likely would have been used by Charon if he had not brought the two over from Moira's store. Instead now, Charon was drinking out of Lex's cup, Lex not caring in the least. “Eat.” The tall ghoul ordered at Butch, pointing crudely with his bent fork towards the untouched food. 

 

He picked up the fork but didn't bring it anywhere close to his food. 

 

Anxiety played with the hair at the back of his neck, grip tightening around the fork in his hand when Dean looked up towards him. The defensive look Butch had in his eyes made the old man draw back, breaking the tension in the air by a bit. 

 

Dean realized that every single person at the table had their eyes on him, each person looking at him differently. He glanced around the table, awkwardly shifting his weight on the chair he sat on. The elder sniper gave him a small smile, cocking her head towards Lex.

 

With a cough, Dean placed down his fork, swallowing the food he had been chewing on. Lex reclined back in her chair when the elder turned to her, a serious look in his eyes. 

 

Her finger twitched, itching to take hold of something to protect herself with if the older man tried anything. She didn’t know him as much as Butch did. By the way her injured husband was glancing between the two, she could assume he wasn't that close with the old man either. Which left the old woman.

 

She looked harmless and didn't give off a bad or dangerous feeling. The old woman being a mute was a disadvantage if anything, everyone having to rely on her older partner to translate or say what she wanted to say. And with the way the other was refusing to, made it worse to determine if she would be an additional problem or not. 

 

God, she hated new people. If they didn't offer work or provide a service, one could never trust them off the bat. 

 

With another cough, Dean began. 

 

“Miss. It never crossed my mind that I would ever come across the infamous Lone Wanderer. Much less, eat at the same table as them..” He looked down, hands curled into fists at his covered knees. Hesitation caused one of his hands to slowly unfold and reach towards his bag, causing both Lex and Charon to react. 

 

“Will you please carve your initials into my shotgun?” Dean asked loudly while hiding the expression he had on his face, startling everyone in the home minus his companion. 

 

Lex was dumbfounded, arm that was once reclined onto the back of her chair now at her side, hand having reached for a hidden gun. Charon also had his hand on a gun, pistol aimed across the table at the old man.

 

“You.. You want me to sign your gun?” Came Lex's hesitant and embarrassed question. 

 

“An autograph?” Butch exclaimed, baffled.

 

By now the old man’s face was a deep red, color reaching the tip of his ears as well as his receding hairline. He nodded in embarrassment, earning a quieted giggle from Loris. The shotgun in his hand shook with the man’s nerves, Loris reaching out to give it a more stable hold. 

 

With the immediate surprise falling away, Lex took one last sip of her husband’s abandoned cup of coffee before taking the old and weathered shotgun. Bending down, Lex pulled out a dangerous looking knife, Butch eyeing the handle and how it gleamed.

 

“L.. V.. D.” The famous Lone Wanderer murmured the letters in her initials, bringing to attention she was adding the name she married into to her estranged husband, a tugging sensation squeezing at Butch's chest. He felt touched that she considered his last name as hers as well. Even after such a long time separated from each other. “There you go.” 

 

Dean accepted his weapon back, avoiding all forms of eye contact to everyone in the room. Only Loris seemed to be happy with the outcome, continuing to cheerfully eat her given breakfast. 

 

\----

 

After an hour of finishing their breakfast in awkwardness, the two elders set out on their way back into the wasteland, all thoughts of bunking down and starting a new life in Megaton wiped clean by embarrassment. Loris thanked the two young adults in her own quiet way, offering Lex a quick peck on the cheek and Butch a tender and quick hug before she turned and left with her friend. 

 

“She's cute.” Lex winked to her husband, earning a huff of a laugh from Charon. 

 

Before Butch could reply, Donovan began to make the quiet cries his father had heard only once yesterday. Charon was up the stairs before Butch could react, Lex laughing at the face he made before tugging him to the beat up sofa near the entrance. 

 

“What is.. His deal?” Butch asked once sitting down. He could hear the giant ghoul’s footsteps on the floor above them, wondering if Charon was pacing around with Donovan in his arms. The thought made him feel an ache in his chest for some reason.

 

A small knowing smile curved the corners of Lex's lips. She sighed half heartedly when her ghoul companion made his way back down the stairs, giving him a small wave as he passed them by. “Taking the kid for a walk.” Was all he said before closing the door behind him.

 

“Charon is.. Very protective of Donovan. Don't really know if it's because of an order I gave him or if he just likes him.” Lex paused, scratching her head in thought. “Charon was abused, his mind becoming broken after some point. He can only.. I guess, survive? If someone is giving him orders.”

 

Thick, dark brows curved downward in reaction. “Sounds like he was a slave.” Butch interjected, watching as his wife's face showed signs of hidden sadness at his words.

 

“Pretty much. He’s a prewar ghoul from what I could get out of his old.. Owner.” She hesitated at the word, spitting it out with hints of disgust. “Before I eventually bought out his contract, he was this grimey barkeep's bodyguard in a small place of only ghouls. As soon as I showed him the proof of ownership he blew off the head of his old owner. Made me wonder at the time if he would do the same to me if I ever ended up losing the paper.” 

 

Hearing the story of the old ghoul's past made a hole grow in the pit of Butch's stomach. He felt nervous at the sudden realization that the Wasteland was suddenly so much worse than he could ever imagine. He was horrified at just how much of that awfulness Lex must have experienced before he had Charon helping her. Just thinking it over made him pale in horror. 

 

As if Lex knew exactly what Butch was thinking about, she gave him a thoughtful smile. “My story is more PG-13 than Charon's don't worry.” Her face shifted with thought. “And more Sci-Fi now that I think about it.” 

 

“Nerd.” 

 

“Shut up.” They both did a little laugh, Lex seeming happy that Butch's overthinking deposition was beginning to fade. She scratched the back of her head, wondering if what she was about to do would end up being a good thing or bad one. 

 

“If what I'm about to tell you.. Ends up being too much, I'll stop. But I owe it to you to catch you up on what has happened since we got separated.”

 

Despite hesitating at the warning, he nodded in agreement, Butch steeling himself for the story that was about to unfold. From what he got yesterday it was more than likely going to be worse. 

 

“Ok.” A deep breath. “Go.”

 

\-----

 

_ After the whole pregnancy reveal, I ended up trying to fix everything I had going for me. Better place to live, more reliable income of money, better food and no addictions. I at least remembered that after the first month of pregnancy any little thing could wind up terminating it. Being in the wastes for that little time made me not really care if I lived or died.  _

 

_ But finding out I was pregnant sure changed my thinking quick.  _

 

_ Starting over at Rivet City made it a lot easier. There was always a job you could find there, most not even requiring to leave the place.  _

 

_ A week or two later -- can't really remember how long it took me -- I made my way back to Megaton with enough caps to buy a home, or at least rent out a better room for a month at Moriarty's if the last vacant house I saw was already taken.  _

 

_ Moriarty was.. Basically my uncle-slash-friend of my dad, but he was just as much of a slimeball as Charon's boss was. I'll get back to him later.  _

 

_ I spoke with the town sheriff to see if the house available was still for sale, which at the moment it wasn't due to a leakage in a nearby water pipe to rust a lot of the walls. He had said in his good graces he couldn't sell me the house in such a hazardous situation but I could tell he didn't know what to make of me, which meant he didn’t trust me. _

 

_ I spent a week in one of the rooms above the saloon, until an opportunity to get on the sheriffs good graces finally hit. _

 

_ A creep by the name of Burke asked for my help, seeing me always coming and going from the bar must have caught his attention. He wanted me for a job, which I wouldn't have found suspicious considering it was already 3 ½ months since I first came to Megaton. Another job prospect was another possible job.  _

 

_ But this guy was scum. He wanted to blow up the only hope of a future I could have had.  _

 

_ In the middle of the lovely town of Megaton, was an undetonated atom bomb, which is where it gets its namesake from. Burke wanted that nuke to blow the lovely town and all its people sky high which is something I didn't want, no matter how much he paid me. _

 

_ Though it was tempting.  _

 

_ I eventually snitched on the guy after i led him on and had him pay me upfront. Only 200 caps, can you believe that? After he started getting weird on me a few days later, he left town, saying something about talking to his boss.  _

 

_ I told the sheriff and we went to go hunt him down when he returned but he never did. The only proof we had that he was still out there were letters he would address to me. But he never showed.  _

 

_ After that, the sheriff said the house I was interested in would be mine and that any damages to the house would be fixed for free, so I handed him the money from Burke in exchange for the key and that was that. I had a home. Not one I could live in at the time but a home nonetheless. The repairs would be done a month or two before I would give birth, which I guess, was just barely good enough.  _

 

_ I began work to keep paying for food and to keep renting the room out of the saloon. My work eventually led me to Underworld, the home of ghouls who could no longer live in settlements.  _

"I guess that’s where the story of Donovan, Charon and myself really began."

**Author's Note:**

> [insert gif of that scene from community here]


End file.
